


Yeah, Sure: An Emotional Charms Story

by OverEnthusiastic



Category: Original Work
Genre: Aerial Manifestations Competitions, Multi, magic world, rated teen for cussing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-26
Updated: 2019-03-06
Packaged: 2019-11-05 21:46:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 23,875
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17926943
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OverEnthusiastic/pseuds/OverEnthusiastic
Summary: Louisa doesn't exactly do well with other people. She doesn't mean to be that way; it's just easier. Rey and Mona don't really interact with other people, for similar reasons. Throw competitions and family troubles into the mix, and the three find themselves gravitating towards each other.





	1. Chapter 1

Louisa runs a hand through her hair, scrunching her nose, as she looks up at the school building. She hates going to school, but she has to be here, because her father says it’ll be good for her. As if he actually cares about it being good for her. He just wants her here to help him search for her brother, which is a pain, because now she actually has to talk to people. 

She looks down at the stupid paper they gave her, searching for her first class period. She walks into the classroom, then plops down in a seat at the back. She observes the rest of her class, and scrunches her nose, deciding she’d rather just work on her own things. She gets out her tablet and tunes out everything else.

 

\---

 

Louisa rolls her shoulders, heading into her combat class with the physical magics. She gets into the practice room, noting the signs of mixed altered and creative magic extending the walls, while keeping the room the same size on the outside. 

Her other classmates mill around, talking to each other. She recognizes a few from her gen courses, a dark skinned girl with sea green eyes sparing playfully with a light skinned boy sticking out from the group. She doesn’t remember their names, and she doesn’t care to. She’s just going to be leaving the school once her father finds her brother anyway.

She closes her eyes, her breath catching when she hears a bit of her first language, trying to tune into that over everything.

“ _Nice try, cariño. Are you staying for class?_ ” A guy’s voice sounds out, a hint of love in his tone that makes Louisa smile.

“ _I wouldn’t miss it for the world._ ” Another boy responds, his voice equally as loving.

Louisa opens her eyes, pinpointing the two in the group, a tan skinned boy watching a darker skinned boy with glittering eyes. He opens his mouth to speak again, immediately cut off by the teacher starting class.

Louisa pouts at that, subconsciously sticking near the Esñan speaking boys during the lesson.

 

\---

 

Louisa didn’t really intend to find the boys again, but here she is, settled down in the commons room, on a couch near the two boys, who are settled into an Esñan conversation about the upcoming play rehearsals, the tan skinned boy excitedly going on about the mechanics of the set design, while the dark skinned boy listens and adds in things every now and then.

Louisa’s just so happy to hear her native language again. Father forbids her from speaking it in the house, or around him, and she hates it. She’s willing to bet he’s trying to train the language out of her, because he sees it as a lesser language. She sets her jaw, leaning her head back against the couch. If only she could leave.

“Hi there. You’re the new girl in my class, Louisa, right?” A boy with sapphire blue eyes, nearly identical to her own, pops into her field of vision, settling down on the couch next to her.

She scrunches her nose at him, crossing her arms, “What do you want?”

He raises an eyebrow at her demeanor, “I just wanted to introduce myself, gruñón.”

Louisa’s eyes widen just a little bit, letting herself soften, “You speak Esñan?”

He watches her for a moment, before letting a smile work its way onto his face, “Yeah, I do. Are you from Esña then?”

She rubs the back of her neck awkwardly, “Not exactly. Abuela was from Esña.”

“That’s awesome. My papi was born in Esña, before he and Abuelo moved here, when he was younger. I’m Gaige, by the way.” Gaige turns to her fully, his eyes glittering with interest, “Where did you go before this?”

She closes in on herself again, reminding herself that she’s not here to make friends, “Homeschooled.”

“Huh. That doesn’t happen very often. What made you want to come to school?”

“I didn’t want to.” Louisa sighs softly, reaching into her bag to get her tablet.

“Well, why not?”

“I’d rather stop talking now.”

Gaige raises an eyebrow at that, before shrugging his shoulders, “Okay. Well, I’m kind of our class rep, so let me give you my number, in case you do want to talk again.”

Louisa just hums, plugging his number into her tablet.

 

\---

 

Louisa kicks her foot up in frustration. She hates talking to her father in general. She’s just glad he doesn’t have as much reach, as Abuela trained her to deal with, so she can just walk out of the house, without him tracking her down.

She twists on her heel, letting the movement fix her into a sideways spin, before taking off and climbing into the trees of the park she’s in. She darts through the trees, swinging from one branch to another and maneuvering through them, until stopping dead in her tracks, when she hears two voices and music.

She follows the sound, trying to be as quiet as possible.

“Can we try that again? I’m not feeling as comfortable with that move.” Louisa peers her head around the tree trunk, locating a dark skinned girl in an interesting ring-like set up, almost level with her at around five meters above the ground.

A light skinned girl pulls herself up into view, hand springing up off of a branch just below the ring, and landing next to the other girl, “Yeah. Do you need me to go over it again?”

“Nope. I just need to practice it.” The dark skinned girl smiles back at her, and the two take to both sides of the ring. 

The light skinned girl counts them down, and then they both start spinning the same way, before flipping off to separate branches, the ring still moving of its own accord. 

Louisa settles down on a branch, so she can watch them better, the two girls going over the move a couple more times, before continuing their routine.

She recognizes what they’re practicing, Aerial Manifestation. She’s thought about trying out competitions, more so lately, because it would give her more of an excuse to avoid her father. 

She kicks her feet, smiling as she watches the girls. She stays like that for a while, until the girls still, the dark skinned girl’s eyes turning to Louisa and staying there. 

Louisa’s eyes widen, immediately jumping up from her spot, and moving to dart away, a squeak escaping her lips, when a branch encircles her ankle.

“Who are you, and why were you watching us?” The dark skinned girl is over in less time than Louisa would be, now standing over Louisa, causing a wave of panic to escape her, and repulsing the girl back into a tree.

The amethyst-eyed girl hisses in pain, as Louisa convinces the branch to leave her ankle, manifesting a dark brown shadow dagger and dropping into a defensive stance. The dark skinned girl bares her teeth, pulling a handful of seeds from her pocket.

“Um, guys? It’s not that big a deal. Please don’t fight.” The light skinned girl jumps over and stands in between them, her brown eyes worried.

Louisa stares at her in surprise, having not noticed the aura around her before, her dagger disappearing. 

The dark skinned girl scrunches her nose and puts away her seeds, “She threw me.”

“You trapped me!” Louisa turns back to the girl, glaring at her.

“Let’s not yell.” The brown eyed girl runs a hand through her hair, sighing softly, before turning to Louisa, “Why were you watching us?”

Louisa crosses her arms and lets out a huff, “I was just curious. I’ve never heard of anyone practicing Aerial Manifestation in a park before.”

The dark skinned girl sets a hand on her hip, “We don’t know where else we could practice, and this is a lot easier, and more convenient.”

“There are plenty of gyms to practice in.”

“We can’t risk someone walking in on us.” The amethyst eyed girl observes Louisa for a moment, her lip curling, when Louisa’s eyes flick to the light skinned girl for a moment, “And you’re not going to tell anyone about this, or so help me, I will destroy you.”

Louisa scrunches her nose from side to side for a moment, “Of course not. I’m not an asshole.”

The amethyst eyed girl nods, while the non-magic girl chews on her lip, her aura lit up with anxiety. Her eyes flicker over to her friend, her head tilted to the side minutely. The dark skinned girl softens a little, offering her a small smile, before turning back to Louisa, “I’m going to need your information, to make certain.”

She snorts at that, reaching into the pocket on the inside of the shorts she’s wearing under her skirt, and getting out her phone, “I’d like a return exchange of information. My name is Louisa.”

“My name is Mona, and this is Rey.” A branch extends towards Mona, bringing her a bag. She rifles through it, while Rey waves awkwardly.

“Nice to meet you.” Louisa bows casually, before straightening up and handing her phone to Mona, “So, Rey, you’re a non-magic, right?”

Rey nods nervously, Mona giving Louisa a look.

“Then why are you not trying to practice somewhere with a drop enchantment? What do you do when you fall?” Louisa crosses her arms, watching Mona put in her information.

Rey shrugs, while Mona sighs softly, “I try to make sure my plants catch her, like they do when I fall, but we haven’t needed it yet.”

“That concerns me. You need to be practicing somewhere with a drop enchantment.” 

“If we could find one that would let us practice, without the risk of outing Rey, then we would, but until then, we’re stuck.” Mona hands Louisa back her phone, a resigned aura around her.

Louisa takes her phone, staying quiet for a moment, as she tries to think through a plan. They really shouldn’t be practicing without a drop enchantment.

“Well, I have access to the gym at my school. If I reserve a time, then I could certainly put up a do not disturb on the door.” Louisa nods her head, turning to look at them, “What days work best for you? I’ll match them against the available gym times, and keep an eye out for the two of you.”

Mona’s eyebrows go up, while Rey covers her mouth, her eyes starting to water, “Y-you would do that?”

“Well, of course. You shouldn’t be practicing without a drop enchantment, magic or non-magic. You could get hurt.” Louisa sets a hand on her hip, scrunching her nose at the two, “So what days are you available?”

“Give us a little bit to think it over.” Mona rolls her eyes, tugging on her bag, “We’ll text you with our decision by tomorrow.”

Louisa scrunches her nose, checking Mona’s aura for any signs of deceit or disapproval. She only finds the emotion associated with a need to be certain, nodding her head in agreement, “Alright. I can understand that.”


	2. Chapter 2

Louisa finds Gaige to be annoying. The boy is very obviously a social butterfly, constantly talking to people and trying to be everyone’s friend, and he’s clearly made Louisa his newest target. 

“How’s your day going, Louisa?” Gaige skips up to her in the hallway, after they get released from their gen classes for lunch.

Louisa just glares at him, crossing her arms, as she heads towards the cafeteria.

“I’m going to take that as not well. Do you want to talk about it?” Gaige tucks his hands in his pockets, trailing after her casually.

“I don’t want to talk.” Louisa scrunches her nose, perking up a little when she hears the Esñan couple she’s been half stalking, as they get inside the commons building.

Gaige seems to take notice of that, observing her for a moment, before switching to Esñan, “ _Why not?_ ”

Louisa sucks in a breath, feeling an anxious spark in her chest, “ _I… Please. Just leave me alone._ ”

Gaige’s aura lights up with triumph, the tan-skinned boy quirking a smile, “ _Would you like to eat lunch with us? We usually eat lunch as a class, and with a few of our siblings and the like._ ”

She looks over at him, before setting her jaw, turning on her heel, and heading out of the building.

 

\---

 

Gaige does not give up easily. How he found her this time, she doesn’t know. She just got a message from Mona, giving her their available days, so she’s on her way to check the available gym times.

“Hey, you’re a physical magic, right? Jasmine said you’re in her combat class.” Gaige sneaks up to her, lucky that Louisa sensed him a minute before.

“I am not.” Louisa crosses her arms, continuing on her way to the physical office.

“Then why are you in her combat class?”

Louisa just looks back at him with a blank expression, “You’re getting very annoying.”

“I’ve been told that quite a few times.” Gaige grins at her, his aura lit with determination, “Why are you in this building?”

“Why are you stalking me?” 

“I want to be your friend.” 

“Why in the world would you want that?” Louisa finally stops outside the physical office and crosses her arms over her chest.

“You seem like you need a friend.” He shrugs and looks into the office, “So, why are we here?”

“I don’t need a friend, and that’s none of your business.” She heads into the office, glaring back at him, “Don’t follow me.”

 

\---

 

Louisa meets Mona and Rey at the trolley stop in front of the school on Friday, having barely dodged Gaige for about the thirtieth time since Monday. He’s extremely insistent on being friends with her.

She watches the trolley rumble on up to the stop, waving when she sees the girls getting ready to get off. They head up to her hand in hand, Rey looking at the campus curiously, before looking back at Mona and offering her a smile. Mona’s aura is a bit on edge. Louisa figures she may just not be as big on new places.

“Nice to see you two again.” Louisa bows to them, “Let me show you to the physical building.”

They both give a nod, Rey’s aura lighting up with interest as they walk.

Louisa looks back at her, then quirks a smile, “Yeah. Our campus is really nice. We’ve got six buildings: the gen building, where we have all our basic courses; the commons building, where the lunch room, library, study center, and commons rooms are; the physical building, where all the physical and creative magic classes are held, also where the gym we’re headed to is; the color building, I have no clue how it got that name, but it’s where all the mental, technology, and emotional magic classes are held; and the nature building, where the altered and nature magic courses are, and also where the greenhouse is.”

Rey nods her head with the information, her aura lit up in excitement, that dulls after a second, “Your campus is so nice.”

“Yes it is.” Louisa holds the door for the girls.

 

\---

 

Louisa kicks her feet, settled on the railing-less balcony and watching Rey and Mona work. Mona seems to need a bit more adjusting to the new setting, but they still do very well. Rey bounces around easily, taking on the tight wire like a pro. Louisa’s rather surprised that she hasn’t fallen actually, considering that she is a non-magic, and Mona’s fallen twice.

Louisa hears a light knock at the door, scrunching her nose and getting up. She knows she locked both doors, but if a teacher is coming in to check on her, then she definitely needs to answer.

Louisa undoes the lock on the door, peeking her head out, before scrunching her nose in distaste, when she finds herself met with annoying sapphire blue eyes, “What the fuck do you want?”

Gaige blinks in surprise, raising an eyebrow at the blatant anger in her voice, “Woah, calm down a bit, gruñón. I didn’t realize you were the one that reserved this time. You do Aerial Manifestation?”

“Yes. Now what the fuck do you want? You’re interrupting my practice time.” Louisa crosses her arms, keeping one foot in position to hold the door closed enough, so that he won’t see inside.

He scrunches his nose, irritation sparking in his aura for once, “Well, you have the entire available hours blocked out right now, and my group and I wanted to see if you’d give up at least six to eight. We missed out on our practice time yesterday, due to a family emergency.”

“No can do. I was approved for these hours. I need all of them.” She drums her fingers against her leg in irritation, “I think Prof. Yoko said there are some hours free Saturday, if you need them.”

“You can’t possibly need all four hours of practice, and we can’t make Saturdays, everyone’s busy. We can’t miss practice either, as I’m sure you know, competitions are in a few weeks.” He pinches the bridge of his nose, and Louisa can’t help but feel a little satisfied by the amount of irritation finding its way into his aura.

“Yes, I do need all four hours of practice. I’m not giving them up, and you’re cutting into my practice time right now, so please leave.”

“Louisa, really? I mean, I know you don’t like me, but can we at least share the practice space?”

“Nope.” Louisa closes the door in his face, locking it again. She turns around, then jumps in surprise when she finds Mona and Rey right in front of her, Mona raising an eyebrow, while Rey just looks worried.

“Who was that?” Mona crosses her arms, eyeing the door with a mild curiosity coloring her aura.

“Ugg, this annoying kid from my class. He wanted to take a bit of my practice time.” She doesn’t turn back around, when she hears angry pounding on the door, “Nothing to worry about.”

Rey chews on her lip, clasping her hands together worriedly, “Are you sure?”

“Certain. I’m sorry he interrupted you guys.” 

“Don’t be. His actions are out of your control.” Mona shrugs her shoulders, looking back at the tight wire for a moment, “We were wondering if you’d like to join us. You do Aerial Manifestation as well, right?”

Louisa rubs the back of her neck and nods, “Yeah. I was going to practice on my own after you guys leave. I’ve never been a part of a group though.”

“Neither had we, until a couple of months ago.” Rey brings her hand up to cover a giggle, looking over at Louisa fondly, “Can we at least see a bit of what you can do?”

Louisa feels a nervous blush start on her cheeks, nodding her head, “Yeah. Tell me if someone knocks on the door.”

 

\---

 

Louisa’s only mildly surprised, when a pair of hands slams down on her desk Monday morning, though not the pair of hands she thought she’d see. 

She looks up at the redheaded boy, who’s name she doesn’t know, and isn’t bothered to learn, and leans her head on her hand casually, “May I help you?”

“Yeah. I wanna know why you’re being such an asshole to Gaige.” The green eyed boy’s aura is just swimming in anger, and a sweet layer of protection for his friend, contempt for Louisa underlining it.

She just rolls her eyes, “He doesn’t seem to know how to take no for an answer.”

“He’s been nothing but nice to you, despite how much of a dick you are to him and almost everyone else. The least you could do is show a bit more respect to him.” Louisa swears she hears the start of a growl in the back of his throat.

“Respect is earned.” Louisa looks back at her tablet dismissively.

“What is your problem? You don’t talk to anyone. You’re almost always glaring at everyone, and you’re an asshole to Gaige in particular.”

“Would you go away? You’re starting to get on my nerves.” 

His aura fills with anger at that, his fists balling up, “You’re pissing me off! And I’m not leaving, until you apologize to Gaige.”

“I’m not sorry.” She flicks her stylus irritably, looking up at him again, knowing that her own aura is filling with frustration, “I’m not going to lie to him to make him feel better.”

He sets his jaw, then reaches up and tugs at his ponytail, turning and walking away.

Louisa watches him go with a raised eyebrow, scrunching her nose, when their classmates turn back and glare at her. She glares right back at them, before looking back at her tablet.


	3. Chapter 3

_So I hate to ask a favor, but we need some extra practice time before competitions. Is there any way we could come to your school’s gym again? -Mona 15:30_

Louisa smiles softly at the text message, just finishing up some classwork in the library. She gathers her stuff and puts it away, before responding.

_It’s no trouble. Let me check with Prof. Yoko. -Louisa 15:35_

She heads out to the physical building, trying not to let it bother her, when one of the girls from her class goes out of their way to avoid her. No one’s talked to her at all in the past few weeks, and so she’s been doing their latest project alone, not that it really matters that much. She didn’t even want to come to school in the first place.

She slips into Prof. Yoko’s office, knocking softly on her door, and heading inside when she gets the go ahead from the teacher.

“Good afternoon, Louisa. How may I help you?” Prof. Yoko folds her hands on her desk, her aura lit up with a fondness that Louisa tends to associate with her. She’s definitely Louisa’s favorite teacher, and Louisa can tell Prof. Yoko likes her enough to be considered among her favorites as well.

“I just wanted to see if there are anymore available times for the aerial manifestation gym this week.” Louisa clasps her hands together. 

“There’s not a lot of times, especially since competitions are Saturday, but I’m sure I can find you a little extra time in the schedule.” Prof. Yoko taps on her computer, pulling up the gym times, “There’s an hour and a half tomorrow from sixteen thirty to eighteen, and and hour between seventeen and eighteen tonight. Would those work?”

“Yes. We’ll take both of them. Thank you so much.”

“Of course. I can’t wait to see you and your team at competitions.” Prof. Yoko plugs in the times, waving Louisa off.

 

\---

 

Rey flips off of Louisa’s manifested ring for her, and onto the branch stretched out in from of them, a ball of energy at the moment, “Competitions are on Saturday!”

Louisa kicks her own ring into a lazy spin, the girls winding down for the evening, “Yep. We’re all staying the full four hours for Friday practice, right?”

“Yes!” Rey spins across the branch, over to where Mona’s ring is set up, giggling the whole time.

Mona watches her with a fond chuckle, leaning her head on the vine covered ring she’s in, “This is the most excited I’ve seen you, since I agreed to do aerial manifestation.”

“I love performing!” Rey plops down on the branch, hooking her legs to steady her, as she hangs upside down, a squeal leaving her lips, “And this is such a cool sport! And you guys are letting me do it with you!”

Louisa sucks in a breath at that, a smile spilling across her lips, “Well, of course we are. You really like aerial, and you’re arguably the best out of all of us.”

Rey pulls herself up, her lip quivering, as she looks at Louisa, “Do you really think that?”

Louisa presses her cheek against her ring and nods, cooing when Rey launches herself over to wrap her in a hug.

“Oh, I adore you, sol.” Louisa squishes her in a return hug, pressing a kiss to her cheek, “Do you two want to go to a restaurant with me for dinner?”

Mona kicks her feet, thinking it over for a moment, before nodding, “Might as well. Let me just text our foster dads first.”

Rey positively nestles into Louisa, her eyes watering, “You’re so sweet. Why are you so sweet?”

Louisa strokes her hair with a bright smile, “You deserve it. I’m half considering adopting you as my sisters.”

Rey starts crying at that, while Mona gets out her phone to text their dads, her own aura filling with love at that statement.

Louisa has to steady Rey, when someone bangs loudly on the door, the brown-eyed girl startled by the noise. Louisa checks her watch, humming to herself, “We’ve still got, like five minutes.”

“We aren’t doing anything anyway. Rey and I can drop to the ground level and head out that way.” Mona puts away her phone, holding out a hand to Rey.

The two girls head down, while Louisa uses her manifestation to get back up to the tight wire and head back over to the balcony. She undoes the lock on the door, opening it and setting a hand on her hip, “It’s five till. What’s with the unnecessary pounding on the door?”

Gaige bristles at that, while the extremely long haired girl next to him tilts her head from side to side, “I mean, she has a point.”

The other four with them just seem mildly irritated, aside from the redheaded guy that confronted Louisa a couple weeks ago, his aura is pissed.

“Why do you lock the door to practice? Are you afraid someone’s going to steal your routine or something?” A girl with dark red hair and olive skin leans her arms on a pink haired girl’s shoulder, her aura just coated in curiosity, despite the underlying anger in it.

“I would be a dick and make you wait the full, now four minutes, but we just finished up, so you’re welcome.” Louisa checks her watch, before shrugging her shoulders and throwing the door open. 

She walks to the edge of the balcony and jumps off without saying anything else, knowingly leaving them frustrated.

 

“Who needs that many spices on their food?!” Mona covers her mouth, a snort escaping it, as Louisa continues adding more spices from the tray their waiter gave them.

Louisa’s eyes glitter teasingly, as she looks up from her meal, “Want me to season yours too?”

“No, thank you. I don’t think my ass could handle that.” 

Rey nearly chokes on her tamale, having to take it out of her mouth, before bursting into raucous laughter, earning a fond look from one of the guys cooking behind the counter.

Louisa soon starts laughing with her, Mona joining in after a beat, until the whole table has dissolved into a fit of giggles.

The girls continue eating, soon getting on the topic of books, since they’ve all got a shared interest in stories. Louisa accidentally slips into full Esñan for a sentence, Rey letting out a chuckle, while Mona just seems confused.

“Rey, did you understand that?” Mona raises an eyebrow at her friend, tilting her head with it.

Rey tucks her head and nods, reaching up to rub the back of her neck, “I’m fluent in Esñan, Lire, and Respu.”

“Wow. That’s awesome!” Louisa takes a bite of her vegetables, swallowing before speaking, “It took me forever to relearn Lire, and I’m not even going to bother keeping up my Respu.”

“How do you know Respu?” Mona’s already finished with her food, way too quick of an eater.

“I was raised in a small Esñan magic community, about a two hour bus ride from Novurbs, by my abuela, before I even knew that I was unwillingly adopted by Kiara. My sisters and I went into the city a lot, because our library had a very limited collection of books.” Louisa pushes her food with her fork, her heart giving a sad beat.

Rey reaches over and wraps Louisa in a hug, “What happened to them?”

Louisa looks over at her, then hugs her back tightly, ignoring how her eyes are starting to water, “Nothing happened to them. Something happened to me. I- My father, my biological father, found me about three years ago and took custody of me. He kind of cut off all my communication with them, and I didn’t realize it until last year. I thought they were mad at me, or something. I tried to get in contact with them again, but they had up and moved. No one from our old barrio knows where either, or how to get a hold of them, so it’s possible I’ll never see them again.”

Mona sucks in a breath at that, before scooting over to hug her as well, “Well, you’ve got us, if you want us.”

Louisa actually starts crying at that, squishing them both in a hug, “I’m more than okay with that. I love you two.”

Rey starts crying with her, happily nuzzling her shoulder, her and Mona speaking at the same time, “We love you too.”

 

\---

 

Louisa, Rey, and Mona head into the gym for their last practice before competitions. Louisa’s started trying to convince the girls to switch to this school, after hearing a bit about their current school. She can tell that it’s working. Rey’s completely on board, but she won’t say so, continuously looking back at Mona, who’s been asking Louisa a bunch of questions, her aura seeming a bit more accepting with every answer. 

Louisa opens the door to the balcony, giggling softly, after Rey makes a pun about space, “That was bad, hermana.”

Rey positively beams, while Mona just raises an eyebrow, her sight turned toward the gym.

Louisa follows Mona’s eyesight, rolling her eyes at Gaige and his group working still, “And we’re even a little late today. Hey! It’s sixteen fifteen, you guys! Your practice time is up!”

A few of them still in their spots, everyone’s eyes turned to Gaige, who’s aura is extremely smug, even though a little confusion lights in it, when he sees Rey and Mona, Rey tucking into Mona’s side worriedly.

Gaige and his redheaded friend use two sets of manifestations to swing over to them, “It’s not actually. Prof. Tate said, since we need the extra hours to practice, your group and mine can just share the practice space, until eighteen.”

“My agreement with Prof. Yoko, was that we’d have the gym to ourselves, and Prof. Yoko has ultimate decision in the schedule.” Louisa sets a hand on her hip, raising an eyebrow at him.

“Actually, Prof. Yoko and Prof. Tate both have decision over the schedule, so either share the gym with us, or get lost.” The redheaded boy bares his teeth at Louisa, instantly setting her off.

Louisa balls her fists, her aura reaching dangerous levels of anger. Mona just reaches over and sets a hand on her shoulder, looking the boys over calmly, “We can’t practice, if you’re in the gym with us.”

Gaige’s aura at least seems to relax with an explanation, turning to look at Mona instead, “If you can’t practice with us in the gym, then how do you plan to do competitions?”

“That’s different, tú gilipolla!” Louisa’s voice comes out in a low hiss, her arms waving in frustration, “You’re our competitors, and no one knows who we are for competitions; unless, one, they’ve seen the person’s routine and recognize it, or two, they tell them.”

“You don’t want to share the gym, because you’re worried we’ll recognize you?” Gaige raises an eyebrow at them, his arms coming across his chest, “Just put up a curtain then.”

Louisa opens her mouth at that, then crosses her arms and looks at the ground, “I can’t focus on holding up that big of a manifestation for so long, and still work through our routines.”

Rey chuckles fondly at that, reaching over and rubbing Louisa’s back gently. Mona scrunches her nose and looks up at Gaige, “We can’t share the gym with you, and we need the full practice time. I’m sorry. Isn’t there another place you can practice?”

“I could ask you the same question.” The redheaded boy glares down at Mona.

Mona looks back at him, her face blank, “Louisa would kill me if I suggested we work in the park again, so no, there isn’t.”

“We’re not going to another gym, and we also need the practice time. I’m sorry, but I’m not budging.” Gaige reaches up and pinches the bridge of his nose.

Louisa balls her fists, twisting on her heel, “I’m going to cool down, and then we’ll discuss this with Prof. Yoko and Prof. Tate.”

Rey sighs softly and shares a look with Mona, before following Louisa out of the room. Mona nods at the two, then turns back to the boys, “Do you really need the extra practice time, or are you just trying to piss Louisa off? You know this is our time. She informed you last time you requested to take up our practice time.”

Gaige just runs a hand through his hair, letting out a breath, “We really do need the practice time. I didn’t know she had a team, or friends. She’s really standoffish.”

“That’s an understatement. She’s a complete asshole. How in the world are you friends with her?” The redheaded boy throws his hands to his sides, glaring viciously out the door.

Mona eyes him over, then decides to ignore him, turning back to Gaige, “She was kind enough to give me a genuine place to practice, even before we became a group. From our point of view, what you’re doing is extremely rude.”

“We’re being rude?! Y-”

“Nash.” Gaige holds up a hand to cut off his friend, looking so ready to be done with this conversation, “Look… Um, what’s your name?”

“I don’t see why you need to know that.” Mona scrunches her nose, when she sees the other four members of their group head over to them, “Anyway, if you won’t leave in the time Louisa specifically blocked out for us, then I need to find her, so we can bring this discussion to someone else.”

Mona waits for a response, Gaige opening his mouth for a moment, before closing it and tilting his head, “I’m sorry, but what? Why won’t you tell me your name?”

“My reasons are my own.” Mona takes a step back, deciding that she’s not going to get a direct response.

 

Prof. Yoko leans against her chair, Prof. Tate pressing a hand to his forehead next to her, “I mean, Louisa did technically block out the space for a closed practice. Louisa, are you sure you can’t share the space? It’s a full four hours.”

“Well, it’s closer to three hours now, and yes. We can’t practice with other people in our space.” Louisa crosses her arms over her chest, still rather frustrated, despite her cool-down with Rey.

“Then we’re going to have to give the time to Louisa. I’m sorry, Gaige. Next time, you’ll just need to block out the space ahead of time.” Prof. Tate sighs heavily, sinking back against his chair.

Gaige lets out a long breath, before nodding his head, “Okay, Prof. Tate. Thank you for your time.”

Gaige bows to the professors, before heading out of the room. Louisa sticks back for a moment, running a hand through her hair, “I’m sorry we had to have that mediated. Thank you for listening to us.”

“It’s no problem Louisa. Thank you for trying to solve the issue, before coming to us.” Prof. Yoko smiles at her warmly, “Good luck with your practice.”

Louisa bows to her, before heading out of the office and back the practice room, where the other group is leaving, most of them giving Louisa rude looks.

Louisa closes the door behind her, then sinks to the floor and presses her face into her hands, “I’m so sorry.”

Rey and Mona both blink at that, before Rey plops down and scoops her up in a hug, “Hey, hey. It’s not your fault. They were the ones that knowingly tried to take our time.”

Louisa nestles against her, starting to cry, “I-I just hate dealing with pe-eople so much, and wh-y would they do that? Why d-don’t they just leave me alone?”

Mona plops down next to them with a soft sigh, reaching over to rub her back, “People are strange creatures. It’s their fault if they’re upset.”

Louisa wipes her eyes and nods, still feeling a little overwhelmed, “Thanks. Just give me a minute to clear myself, and then we can get to practice.”

“Take your time. Rey and I can go through our routine first, so you can clear without worrying.” Mona pats her head and straightens up, sharing a smile with Rey.


	4. Chapter 4

Louisa meets up with the girls in the competition hall lobby, wrapping them up in a hug when she sees them. Rey hugs her back brightly, while Mona chuckles, a little less enthusiastic than Rey, but still hugging her back. 

The girls head over to the dressing rooms and find the one they were assigned, getting ready and heading out to the hall.

Rey does an excited spin, her half golden, half dark outfit glittering in the light, “I’m so excited! Our first competitions!”

Mona chuckles fondly, done up in a half dark, half silver costume and makeup mask, “We should go out and celebrate after this, regardless of the outcome. How late is that restaurant we went to on Wednesday open?”

“They’re open a little later tonight. I may have already reserved us a table.” Louisa grins over at Mona, her outfit a deep glittery red.

Rey scoops Louisa up in a hug and spins with her, “I love you!”

Louisa laughs at that, leaning up to kiss her cheek, when she puts her down, “I love you too, sol.”

Rey nuzzles her cheek in return, before turning and skipping up the steps, to the competitor’s balcony, “We need to do a routine just you and me next time! That’d be so much fun.”

“We can certainly do that. Lunar, what do you think?” Louisa nudges Mona’s shoulder, the dark skinned girl lost in thought.

“That sounds awesome, you two. We’ll have to go over it during practice.” Mona smiles over at them, her aura still lit up with planning. Louisa and Rey stay quiet for a moment, letting her think, “So, the next school year comes up in January, right?”

Louisa holds the door for the other two, a smile starting on her lips, “Mhmm. You considering switching over?”

Mona rolls her eyes at Louisa’s tone, “Yeah. We’d be able to schedule more practice times that way.”

Rey wiggles in her spot, nodding her head enthusiastically, “We could! And Louisa is also there, so we for certain have at least one friend.”

“And if they give Rey any grief, then I will back you up, even though, I’m pretty certain they won’t, and least not the school staff. If the students start being mean, then I’ll beat them up.” Louisa crosses her arms and scrunches her nose.

“Let’s not beat people up.” Rey pats her shoulder, Mona chuckling at that.

“We’ll talk it over with our foster fathers.” 

Rey jumps up with excitement at that. Louisa turns and looks around for a place to sit, finding a good section behind a group of six, in similar enough outfits but with different themes.

The announcer calls the five minutes till, while Louisa stretches out her arms again. She made everyone stretch, before they left the dressing room, “So I’m third in the singles, you guys are fifth in doubles, and we’re the last of the groups of three to go, right?”

“Mmhmm. We’re going to do great, Blood Moon.” Rey settles against Louisa’s side, Mona next to her and observing the crowd. 

A girl with a red and black makeup mask in front of them twists around, her eyes glittering, “Hello! I’ve not heard your name before; are you guys new?”

Louisa and Mona eye her, while Rey straightens, kicking her feet a little, “Yes! This is our first competitions!”

The girl grins at that, turning to face them fully, “That’s awesome! I’m Questionnaire. What are your names?”

Rey blinks at that, her excitement dimming a little, as she looks in between Louisa and Mona, staying quiet. Louisa tilts her head at Rey, then smiles softly, leaning over to kiss her cheek, before turning to Questionnaire, “I’m Blood Moon, and these two are Solar Eclipse and Lunar Eclipse.”

“Oh! So you’ve got a group theme going. That’s cool. Our group doesn’t have much of a theme. The one in the purple and black is Seamstress, the blue and green one is Oceana, the girl with insanely long hair is Tech Princess, the boy next to her is Code, and the last one with the cartoon look is Illustration.” Questionnaire leans her elbows on her knees, the other’s on her team looking back when they hear their names.

Code leans back and beams at the three girls, “It’s nice to meet you guys. Are you new?”

Questionnaire nods and repeats their names back to her group, while the three look a little on edge with the whole group’s attention on them.

Oceana kicks her feet, “So, how did you three get into Aerial Manifestation?”

Louisa and Mona share a look, Rey tucking in between them. Mona just taps her fingers against her leg, “We’d rather not talk right now.”

Questionnaire raises an eyebrow at that, “Well, why not? We love talking to new competitors.”

“It’s just not our thing.” Mona eyes Louisa worriedly, the tan skinned girl tensing up, “It looks like competitions are about to start.”

Questionnaire opens her mouth to respond to that, only to get cut off by the announcer.

 

The one group tries to talk to them a couple more times, only to be blocked out, or interrupted. Louisa’s getting frustrated that they won’t take no for an answer, while Mona’s just making sure Rey is okay, the light skinned girl folding in on herself.

The girls head out of the room after competitions, all three excited that they at least made it on the leader board their first time. Louisa took fourth in singles misc., Mona and Rey took sixth in their dual story performance, and they took second in group story, something that made the girls absolutely ecstatic.

They get changed and leave their dressing room key at the checkout, Rey bouncing with excitement, “Second place! That’s so awesome! Especially with it being the first time.”

Mona grins at that, catching Rey’s hand and swinging it, “We did really well. Completely thanks to you. Louisa and I can’t choreograph for shit.”

Louisa laughs at that and nods her agreement, going over and catching Rey’s other hand, “She’s not wrong, and it was your idea to do the spin at the bridge of the song. The judges were shocked.”

Rey’s cheeks start turning pink, squeezing their hands bashfully, “You guys are too sweet. Are we headed to the- Louisa?”

Louisa stops in the middle of the lobby, staring after a familiar head of curly black hair. She lets go of Rey’s hand, the other two stopping with her.

“Louisa, are you okay?” Rey reaches up and touches her shoulder, tears forming in Louisa’s eyes.

Louisa seems to startle out of her trance, looking over at Rey, “Oh, I’m sorry. I just- That girl looks so much like my Willow.”

Rey and Mona both share a look, before Rey wraps her up in a hug, “Do you want to go over and say hi?”

Louisa snorts at that, reaching up to wipe her eyes, “Wouldn’t that be a weird conversation.”

“I mean, it would be, if you were wrong.” A new voice pipes up from behind Louisa, Louisa turning on her heel to meet a familiar, but very different looking face, “Hey, hermana. We missed you.”

Louisa is forward in seconds, wrapping the young blonde up in her arms, “Lana! Oh, mi princesita! I’ve missed you so very much.”

“Um, a-actually, it’s Lane now.” 

Louisa just squeezes him tighter, dropping a kiss to his forehead, “Mi principito then. It’s so good to see you. Where is abuelita? I couldn’t find anyway to get a hold of you guys, after I realized Father was constricting my contacts with you.”

Lane visibly droops, resting his head against her chest, “Sh-she... She’s gone.”

Louisa sucks in a breath at that, nodding her head, “Isis?”

“She’s with Willow temporarily, but yeah.” Lane wraps his arms around her, Louisa feeling the tears getting through her shirt, “I missed you so much. We both missed you. We thought you’d be able to call us and talk to us, but when you didn’t, I got so upset, and then Abuela found out that Jackson wouldn’t let us talk to you, and we moved here to find you, but then so much happened.”

She stroked his hair gently, a few tears of her own finding their way down her cheeks, “Well, I’m here now, and there’s no way that I’m leaving again, no matter what.”

“What if your father moves you guys again?” 

“It’s not like I can’t run away, hermano. I promise you I’m not leaving again.” Louisa cups his cheeks and presses her forehead against his, watching him nod and start crying again, although these tears have a happier aura to them.

“Louisa?” Willow’s voice sounds from rather close by, Louisa turning to look at her sister, before laughing and darting over to wrap her up in a hug.

“There’s my arbolito. How are you doing, hermana?”

Willow blinks in surprise, before hugging her back tightly, “You’re here.”

“Well, where else would I be?” Louisa leans over and presses a kiss to her cheek, “I missed you guys so much.”

Willow starts crying at that, a smile breaking out on her face, before immediately falling, “Oh. Oh, Louisa. Did Lane tell you?”

“About Abuela? Yes. I’m so sorry. You two should have never had to deal with that alone.” Louisa presses her cheek against Willow’s, earning a snort from the dark haired girl.

“Not your fault, cuervita. Don’t apologize.”

Lane comes over and hugs both of them as well, “And we weren’t exactly alone. We need to introduce you to our new family. I think you’ll love them.”

“Oh!” Louisa blinks at that, turning around and smiling, when she sees that Rey and Mona are still there, the two watching Louisa fondly, “Me too. Guys, these are my siblings, Willow and Lane. Hermanos, these are my other sisters, Rey and Mona.”

Rey’s eyes water at that, while Mona just waves nervously. Louisa chuckles fondly, before running a hand through her hair, “Though, we may want to wait on the meeting new people thing. It’s not exactly our strong suit, and we’ve got reservations for dinner.”

Willow looks over at them, before smiling softly and nodding, “I understand.”

Lane pouts at that, still clinging to Louisa’s side, “Papi’s making dinner at home for everyone. Our brother was in competitions too, and all his friends are coming over. Are you sure you can’t come meet everyone today?”

“I’m sure, hermano. I’ll be more than happy to come meet them on another day, though.” Louisa ruffles his hair fondly, taking note when Mona seems to relax, “You’re welcome to come with us though, if you want, but I’m one-hundred percent okay with it, if you don’t.”

“Awesome. I’m going to go tell Mamá and Maman that we’re headed out with you then.” Willow turn on her heel and heads through the crowd.

Louisa chuckles at that, looking down at her brother, “Are you okay with that, principito?”

Lane nods, a soft sniffle escaping him, as he squeezes her, “It’s so good to see you again, hermana.”

“You too, hermanito.”

 

Louisa walks Lane and Willow home with the girls, making sure to memorize the address and get their numbers, before telling them she’ll call and set up another time to meet their family. She walks Mona and Rey home, a bright smile stuck on her face the whole time.

“I like your siblings.” Rey bumps Louisa’s shoulder fondly.

Louisa runs a hand through her hair and nods, her eyes filling with tears again, “Me too.”

Mona smiles fondly at her, reaching over to pat her shoulder, “What are you going to do about your dad? Are you going to tell him?”

“Hell no. That fucker would just try to move us again, after he finds my mother and brother. He doesn’t have good intentions at all.” Louisa sets her hands at her sides, curling them into fists, “Not that I can’t get away from him, because I definitely can, but he’s going to try and make it more difficult than it already is to leave him, especially if he actually does find my mother and brother.”

“That sounds really complicated.” Rey takes one of Louisa’s hands, uncurling it so she can properly hold her hand.

“It is, but I’ll be okay. I turn eighteen in June, then I can apply for underage housing. I’m nearly guaranteed to get it, especially with the memories I’ve recorded, and my father’s manipulations. Honestly, they’d probably pull me from his custody now, if I brought them the case, but I don’t want to go into a foster home, and if they went looking for my bio mother, then my father could way too easily track her that way.” Louisa squeezes Rey’s hand, leaning on her shoulder, as she thinks through her plans out loud, a habit Mona and Rey have been picking up on.

“The foster system isn’t so bad here.” Mona swings her and Rey’s intertwined hands, “And you shouldn’t be staying with your father if he’s abusive.”

Louisa opens her mouth, before closing it again, thinking about that for a moment, “Huh. Abusive is the word for that, isn’t it?”

“Yes. And I’m sure your brother and sister’s family would be willing to take you in, if you asked.” Mona leans on Rey’s shoulder, smiling over at Louisa, “Of course, you’d have to talk to them first, and probably take some time to think it over, but it’s an option.”

Louisa brings up her hand to tug at her hair, “I don’t want to be a bother to them.”

“I’m sure they’d be fine housing you, at least until you’re eighteen, and your siblings would probably be ecstatic to have you living with them again.” Mona rolls her eyes at her friend, sharing a look with Rey.

“But...” Louisa looks over at the girls, before sighing softly and nodding, “You’re right. I’ll start thinking about it, after I’ve met their new family though.”

Mona nods, reaching up to pat her head, “We can help you with a plan too.”

Louisa lets out a soft breath, before reaching around Rey to give her a hug, “Thank you.”


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anything italicized is them speaking Esñan this chapter. (Yeah, Esñan is basically just spanish with a different name. The whole countries, landmasses, governments, and everything else is different from our world.)
> 
> If you recognize the name Rebel from my other stories, that's for a good reason. Louisa is the character Rebel evolved from. I just like Louisa's background a little better.

“Good morning, Rebel. Where are you headed this early on a weekend?” Jackson doesn’t even look up from his tablet, Louisa scrunching her nose up at the smell of coffee.

“It’s Louisa. You know this.”

“And you know I hate using the name that child-stealer gave you.” Jackson just sips his coffee, casually looking up at her, a hint of annoyance in his aura.

“Abuela gave me this name, not Kiara. My name is Louisa. You either call me by the right name, or I’m going to stop responding.”

“Either way, I asked where you’re going. You haven’t even eaten breakfast yet.”

Louisa runs a hand through her hair, tugging on it grumpily, “I’m eating breakfast with my friends. We’re hanging out all day today.”

“Didn’t you hang out with them enough yesterday? I never get to see you.” Jackson finally puts down his tablet, crossing his arms and pouting at her.

“So sad. I don’t like being at home, get over it. I’ll see you sometime around eight if you’re still here.” Louisa shoulders her bag, before feeling an electric shock run through her, causing her to grit her teeth in pain.

“That was very rude of you, Rebel. Why don’t you come watch TV with me, so you can make it up to me.” Jackson sets an arm around her shoulder, guiding her to the couch.

“Would you fucking stop doing that, tú capullo?” Louisa tosses his arm away from her, her eyes lit with anger.

Jackson just scrunches his nose, “Language. You know how I feel about Esñan in the house.”

“I’m leaving. Try that stupid spell again, and I’ll knock you through your fucking bedroom.” Louisa turns on her heel, gritting her teeth when she feels lightheaded.

“Rebel, you can’t leave so soon with an energy drop like that. Come sit down, watch TV with me, and get some breakfast.” Jackson’s voice is pleasant, completely unapologetic for causing her state. 

Louisa just heads out the door, slamming it behind her. She refuses to pass out anywhere close to their apartment this time, despite how her body is screaming at her to lay down. She gets onto the trolley headed to Willow and Lane’s new house, before her body shuts down on its own.

 

Louisa blinks awake some time later, a quiet whimper leaving her lips, at the massive headache beating against her skull. She looks around the unfamiliar room she’s in, blinking when she hears children running outside of it. She sits up slowly, watching as a young girl peaks her head into the room.

The girl squeaks in surprise, before calling out in Esñan, “ _Mamá! She’s awake, Mamá!_ ”

“ _Rosita, leave the poor girl alone!_ ” An oddly familiar voice calls back, Louisa watching the girl scamper down the hall.

A few moments later, an older gentleman Louisa recognizes pushes open the door, carrying a cup of tea and a package of crackers, “ _Hey there, chiquita. Long time no see._ ”

“ _Señor García!_ ” Louisa jumps up from the bed, immediately tripping onto the ground with a whimper.

“ _Woah, woah. Let’s calm down a little. You were completely out of energy when Mía found you. You don’t need to be moving just yet._ ” Leo heads over and sets down the tea on the table next to the bed, before moving to help her up, “ _What happened?_ ”

Louisa accepts the help up, settling back into the bed and pressing her head against the pillows, “ _My father drained my energy, because he didn’t want me to leave the house._ ”

Leo’s aura pulls over completely with shock for a second, “ _He what?_ ”

“ _He drained my energy. He’s been doing that a lot since he learned how to._ ” Louisa reaches up and rubs her face, “ _He was just throwing another tantrum._ ”

“ _Mija, that is not just throwing a tantrum. That’s, first off, illegal magic, and second off, abusive. How long has he been doing this to you?_ ” Leo settles down next to her, reaching out to stroke her hair.

“ _Well, about a year now. It was about the time I realized that he was blocking Abuelita and the girls from talking to me._ ” Louisa relaxes against the pillows and closes her eyes, “ _That’s not as bad as when he disables my defensive magic though._ ”

Leo screws up his face, his aura dipping with anger, “ _Okay, mijita. I need you to drink this tea now. I’m going to assume you didn’t eat breakfast, hmm?_ ”

“ _Nope. I was supposed to eat with Willow and Lane’s new family._ ” Louisa reaches out for the tea, Leo moving it to her.

“ _I’ll bring you something to eat, and then you need to sleep. I’ll tell Willow and Lane where you are._ ” Leo presses a kiss to the top of her head, before getting up and heading out of the room. 

A giggle escapes Louisa’s lips, when he almost trips over a small pile of children in the doorway.

 

\---

 

Louisa startles awake, when she feels another person jump into the bed with her. She lets out a slow breath, calming as she feels Lane’s signature next to her, the boy nestling into her side. 

She wraps an arm around him and kisses his forehead, “ _Hey, principito. When did you get here?_ ”

“ _A little while ago. Our parents have been chatting with Señor and Señora García, and I just got to sneak away from them. They didn’t want us waking you, but I’m worried. They won’t tell me what happened._ ” He nuzzles her shoulder, looking up at her.

Louisa sighs softly, reaching up to brush his hair out of his face, “ _My father is not a nice person. He kinda drained all of my energy, because he didn’t want me to leave the house. I made it to the trolley, before passing out, and Señor García says that Señora García found me and brought me home with her. They gave me some food and tea, and I’m feeling a lot better now, but I’m still exhausted._ ”

“ _That’s horrible!_ ” Lane squeezes her into a hug, “ _How is that even possible? He’s got to be some awful human being to even think about doing that._ ”

Louisa relaxes against him, nodding her agreement, “ _Yeah. Yeah, it is pretty awful. I didn’t exactly realize that what he’s been doing is abusive, until recently. Mona was pretty worried too._ ”

“ _Hermana, you’ve been back for like two days, and you’re already worrying me._ ” Lane shakes his head, reaching up to kiss her cheek.

“ _Old habits die hard._ ” Louisa ruffles his hair with a yawn, “ _Wanna nap with me? I’m still really tired._ ”

He tucks the covers around them better, Louisa scooping him up in her arms and nodding back out.

 

\---

 

Louisa wakes the next day, with both Willow and Lane tucked against her, Louisa having caught up Willow after dinner. She still has yet to meet her siblings’ new family, but that’s okay. She knows she will soon enough. 

Louisa chuckles when she sees that the García’s put an extra blanket over them, Lane having hogged most of the first one they had.

“ _How are you feeling, cuervita?_ ” Isis steps into the room, and Louisa lights up, moving one arm to reach out to her.

“ _Mami!_ ” 

Isis laughs and gently settles down on the edge of the bed, taking Louisa’s hand and squeezing it gently, “ _I see your aura is a lot better. I’ve been checking on you guys off and on during the night. So have Señor and Señora García._ ”

“ _I feel a lot better. Energy drops suck by the way. Did you already hear what happened?_ ” Louisa watches Willow stir, the dark haired girl nuzzling Louisa’s chest as she does.

“ _Yeah. I’m pretty certain both the García’s and the Huang’s are already planning to move you in with one of them. I think Mía and Maria are already working on a legal case for you too._ ” Isis reaches over and strokes Willow’s hair, a soft sigh escaping her lips, “ _Once that gets settled, we’ve got to talk._ ”

Willow opens her eyes, mostly to roll them, “ _You’re supposed to be her new keeper, hermana._ ”

“ _Well, I was gonna give her some time for everything else, before dropping that on her too, arbolito._ ” Isis shakes her head, turning to look at the door.

“ _Oh, no. I figured I was. You and Abuela didn’t exactly hide that from me._ ” Louisa reaches up and rubs her eyes, “ _We can get that sorted after everything settles down though. I’m sure Willow’s not ready to part with Abuela’s necklace yet._ ”

Willow looks up at Louisa, before hugging her tightly, “ _It’s so good to have you back, hermana._ ”

Louisa chuckles, hugging her back with one arm, Lane dead asleep over her other one, “ _It’s good to be back, hermanita._ ”

 

\---

 

The García’s end up making her stay with them, not that Louisa even bothers to argue, Mía sitting down with her, a social worker named Nathasha, and Maria, to work out a case to pull Louisa away from her father completely. Maria is working on another case as well, so she can follow the illegal magic that Jackson’s been doing. 

“Your father’s full name is Jackson Fleurene?” Maria sets down her tablet, her nose scrunched up, as she looks her over, “Do you have a picture of him?”

Louisa shakes her head, leaning it against the couch. She’s still rather tired, despite sleeping most of yesterday, but she should’ve expected that. She’s usually wiped for at least two days when her father does that, “Nope. I don’t keep any electronic devices on me when I leave the house, so that he can’t track me easily.”

“Okay. Give me a minute. I’ve got to go talk to my partners.” Maria pats Louisa’s head softly, as she heads out of the room.

Mía and Nathasha share a look, then shrug, continuing to work on her case.

“Hey, Louisa. How are you feeling?” Louisa looks up and blinks in surprise, when she sees the Esñan speaking boys she’s been trailing at school.

“Um, I’m feeling better?”

The tan skinned boy snorts and raises an eyebrow at her, “Do you not remember me?”

Louisa just shakes her head.

“Marcus García. I know it’s been a while, but even Mamá recognized you.” Marcus comes over and leans on the back of her chair, an amused smirk falling on his face, when Louisa’s eyes light in recognition.

“Oh, hostia! I’ve even been half stalking you at school, and I didn’t recognize you. You look really grown up now.” Louisa reaches up and squishes him in a hug.

He barks out a laugh, hugging her back tightly, before gesturing to the boy with him, “This is Akash by the way. He’s one of Willow and Lane’s siblings.”

Akash waves awkwardly, Louisa looking in between the two with a growing smile, “Nice to meet you, hermano.”

Akash tucks his head, a shy blush tinging his aura, “It’s nice to meet you too. Willow and Lane have been talking about you non-stop, since you showed up.”

Louisa coos, twisting to look down the hall, “Speaking of mis hermanos, where did they go?”

“I think they’re over at our apartment. Papi keeps trying to get them to give you space.” Akash looks over at the door in the hallway next to the living room, that people have been in and out of all day.

“Pft. They’re allowed to invade my space whenever they want.” Louisa scrunches her nose, pondering getting up for a minute, before looking over at Mía and Nathasha, “Mind if I go find los hermanos?”

“Go for it. We can find you, if we have more questions.” Mía leans over from the couch and presses a kiss to her cheek.

Louisa brightens at that, jumping up from her spot, “Alright. Akash, if you wouldn’t mind showing me the way to your apartment?”

Marcus rolls his eyes at that, ruffling her hair, “They’re literally across the hall.”

“Oh, but I thought Señor García said he owns a restaurant downstairs? The downstairs of Lane and Willow’s family’s building had a tailor shop.” 

“It does. We’re just the building right next to them. We made hallways, because we’re friends with everyone in the building, and we share the gardens on the roof.” Marcus leads the way to the door.

“That’s really cool.” Louisa covers up a yawn, happily trotting after them.

They get over to the Huang’s apartment, Louisa immediately heading to where she hears Lane singing. Marcus and Akash both smile at that, following her into the kitchen.

Louisa scoops up her brother in a hug, leaning her head on his, “You’ve gotten so much taller. It’s hard to tuck you under my chin now.”

He laughs and looks up from where he’s mixing together a bowl of dough, “You haven’t grown much too.”

“I knoow. It’s not fair.” Louisa’s eyes crinkle up fondly, despite the whine in her voice, “Whatcha making?”

“Rolls for dinner. Papi didn’t want us bothering you and the others, while you were working, so I decided to do this instead.” Lane leans up to nuzzles his head against her chin, making her laugh.

“You’re never bothering me, hermanito. You know that.” Louisa kisses the top of his head, before letting go of him, “Where’s Willow?”

“I think she went back up to her room to paint. Oh! We can introduce you to everyone now!” Lane bounces in place, rushing to cover his dough.

Louisa chuckles at that, looking back at the doorway. Akash and Marcus seem to have wandered off, “Well, I’ve already met Akash. It’s just Lucie and Gaige now, right?”

“And Mamá and Papi! You’ve already met Maman.” Lane darts to the sink to wash his hands, before grabbing her arm and heading out of the kitchen. The two check the living room first, where Akash and Marcus are settled down with an olive skinned girl, watching TV, “Lucie! Meet Louisa!”

Lucie looks up, her green eyes glittering in amusement, “Hello there, Louisa. I’ve heard a lot about you.”

Louisa snorts at that, looking over at Lane for a minute, the blonde boy just beaming proudly, “That statement concerns me.”

Lane looks back at her, reaching up to cover a giggle, “We got excited. Lucie, where’s Gaige?”

“He’s downstairs with either Rapunzel or Nash. I can never tell at this point.” Lucie leans back against the couch, watching them with a soft expression, “And don’t worry, Louisa. Lane and Willow had nothing but nice things to say about you, mostly.”

Louisa smiles at that, letting out a squeak when Lane starts tugging her down the hallway next to a set of stairs, “Come on! Let me introduce you to Mamá and Papi!”

She laughs and lets him lead the way. Lane knocks on the first door, bouncing on his feet, as he waits for them to open it.

A black haired lady that looks almost just like an older version of Lucie opens the door, smiling softly, when she sees the kids. She turns and calls back into the room, “It’s just Lane and Louisa.”

“Mamá! I wanted to introduce you and Papi to Louisa!” Lane wiggles in place, Louisa patting his head in response.

“Come on in then. We’ve just been talking. It’s nice to meet you by the way, Louisa. Lane and Willow have been extremely excited to see you again. That’s all they’ve been talking about, since they found you.” She opens the door for them, Maria and a blonde man with long hair tied up in a bun settled on the bed and going through a tablet.

Maria and the light-skinned guy wave at the kids, looking up from what their doing on, “Hey kiddos. What’s up?”

“I wanted to introduce Louisa to everyone. Louisa, meet Papi. He’s a tailor, and he owns the shop downstairs. Mamá works as a teacher, and you know what Maman does.” Lane gestures to each of them in turn, Louisa waving to them.

“It’s nice to meet you all.” 

“It’s good to meet you too kiddo. I’m Eliott, by the way.” The blonde man reaches up and pulls at his bun a bit, “Silly question, so your father is Jackson Fleurene, right? Do you know who your biological mother is?”

“Not a clue, and I don’t want to. Father’s been trying to track her and my bio brother down for ages now, and I don’t want to give him any chance to actually find her.” Louisa leans against the doorway, reaching over too stroke Lane’s hair, when he looks up at her, his aura worried, “Besides, there’s no way in existence that I’m leaving Lane and Willow again, so even if I wanted to look for her, it’ll be a while. I can’t risk her attempting to claim me, like Father did.”

Lane sniffles at that, folding into her side. Eliott’s aura tinges with a weird emotion Louisa don’t know how to identify. He offers her a gentle smile, “That’s good to know. We can add that to the information on the case.”

Mamá raises an eyebrow at that, saying something to Eliott in Lin. Eliott shrugs at that, giving her a response, which has Maria sighing and pressing a kiss to his head.

Mamá runs a hand through her hair, then turns to smile at Louisa, “Either way, don’t be a stranger. You’re more than welcome over here whenever you like. I know Maria already offered you the extra room upstairs, but just remember that offer will be there if you change your mind.”

Louisa tucks her head shyly and nods, one hand absently playing with Lane’s hair, “Thank you. I’m sure I’ll be here rather often. Oh, and the reverse is open, Lane. You’re welcome to crash my room whenever you like.”

Lane nods vigorously, reaching up to kiss her cheek, “Can I introduce you to all our neighbors now too?”

Louisa’s eyes widen a bit at that, before a laugh pulls from her throat, “Did you already charm the whole building?”

“Mmhmm!” Lane beams up at her, clasping his hands together, then moving them apart ecstatically, “Some of my friends live downstairs! Sammy is Nash’s younger sister, and Janatha is Caroline’s sister, and then you already know Emile, and my friend Bella lives in the bakery across the street.”

“I’d love to meet all of them, principito.” Louisa giggles, letting him drag her off to meet all of his friends.


	6. Chapter 6

“You’re a really good big sister, you know that?” Lucie tucks her hands in her pockets, having walked with Louisa, Akash, and Marcus to drop Lane and Willow off at their school.

Louisa raises an eyebrow at her, her nose scrunching for a split second, “Are you trying to tell me you haven’t been a good big sister to my siblings?”

“No, not at all, dork. I just haven’t seen them look so, I dunno, vibrant. I guess. Willow’s never been this talkative.” Lucie shrugs her shoulders, watching the boys for a moment, before looking back at Louisa, “Lane ignored our parents to sneak into your room, when you weren’t feeling well. He’s never done that before. He always does exactly as he’s told, and he never argues. He was arguing with Papi yesterday too, when you were working with Maman, Mía, and Nathasha.”

“Really? That doesn’t sound like him. He’s always stood up for himself.” Louisa pushes back her hair, before letting out a sad sigh, “Then, again. I’ve been gone for three years.”

“We’ve actually been trying to get him to tell us what’s on his mind, and to stop letting others step over him, so him going against orders is a bit of a shock. Though, I’m not surprised he did so in order to stay with you. You seem to be very good at listening to him, and taking what he wants into account.” 

“Well, I’ll certainly try to help more with that. I’ve been gone for way too long.” Louisa leans her head back, looking up at the sky, as they pause to wait for a trolley to pass, “We had a long conversation about him wanting me to move into your apartment last night. I feel kinda bad about not agreeing, but really I live literally just across the hall, and I’d like to ease him back to being around me. He’s been a lot clingier than he used to be. It’s not really a bad thing, but I just worry”

 

\---

 

“Where have you been for the past two days?” Gaige settles down next to her at her desk, despite the fact that no one’s even sat close to her, since she came to the school.

Louisa looks up from her tablet, raising an eyebrow at him, “Why do you want to know?”

“I’ve wanted to talk to you since Friday, and you weren’t here. Were you sick?” Gaige drums his fingers on the table, genuine worry dusting his aura.

“Um, something like that.” Louisa tucks her shoulders a little, looking at her tablet, “Why did you want to talk to me?”

Gaige turns and watches her for a minute, before sighing and running a hand through his hair, “Why didn’t you just tell me you needed all those hours, because you were already sharing the time with your team?”

Louisa opens her mouth for a moment, before closing it, then shrugging, “I didn’t think of that actually.”

Gaige leans back in the chair, shaking his head, “It would have made things a little more calm between us. I also want to know what your competition names are, but I get that you don’t want to say for some reason. Why did your friend not want to tell me her name, by the way?”

“She doesn’t know you. She’s complicated about those things.” Louisa stills a little, her mind spinning, as she realizes something. She’s not going to move. She’s not leaving this place any time soon. She can make friends.

Gaige blinks at the change in her aura, “Huh, well I’ll keep that in mind, if I see her again. One more thing though. There might be some weeks, where we miss our practice times, and yours is the only other time that works for all of us. Is there any way we can work something out, so that we can practice if we need to?”

Louisa’s nose scrunches in thought, turning on her tablet and checking her calendar, “Um, well, no. Not until January, maybe. I don’t know what the girls are going to want to do then either.”

“Please, Louisa. We could even give you one of our practice times, if we can catch the missed practice times in advance.”

“We can’t give you any of our practice time. That’s too much of a drop of the hat decision, and the girls aren’t good with those.” Louisa balls up her fist, feeling stares on her skin.

Gaige opens his mouth to argue again, before shaking his head and getting up, “Okay. Well, thank you for listening to me at least.”

Louisa looks back up at him and nods, watching him walk back to his seat, while the redheaded boy and a few others glare at her. She sinks down to her table, resisting the urge to cry, because it occurs to her that she won’t be able to make friends with anyone in her class. They don’t like her, and they tend to avoid her at all costs.

 

\---

 

Louisa mopes on the couch back at the García’s house. Rosa, the youngest García, is settled down next to her and adorning her with the bracelets and necklaces she keeps making.

“ _Wow. I haven’t seen this much moping in our living room since before Marcus and Akash started dating._ ” Mía teases as she brings in the laundry to fold, settling down in the chair, “ _What’s up, mija?_ ”

Louisa just grumbles, looking up from where she’d had her face in the couch, “ _I can finally make friends without worrying I’ll leave them, and all my classmates hate me._ ”

“ _I think you’re just being overdramatic, cariño. I doubt your classmates hate you._ ” Mía takes out a shirt and folds it up, setting it on the table, while Rosa sets a necklace on Louisa’s head like a crown.

“ _Thank you, rosita._ ” Louisa smiles softly at Rosa, before turning back to Mía, “ _And they do. I may or may not have frustrated Gaige, to the point of being considered rude by his friend, because he wouldn’t leave me alone._ ”

“ _Oh. The Huang’s Gaige?_ ”

“ _I don’t actually know. I still haven’t met the Huang’s Gaige, but it’s a heck of a lot of coincidence, if it’s not the same person._ ” Louisa waves her hand, grumpily pressing her face into the couch again.

“ _Well, I’m sure he’ll be friends with you, if you go and introduce yourself properly. If he is the Huang’s Gaige, then I think you’ll get along really well._ ” Mía rolls her eyes, looking up when the front door opens, “ _Hey, chiquito. How’s it going?_ ”

“ _I’m great, Señora García!_ ” Lane bounds into the room, pouncing right on his sister, “ _Louisa! Gaige is home, so you can finally meet him!_ ”

Louisa lets out another groan, turning her head to pout at her brother, “ _You’re heavy. Get off._ ”

Lane just grins and fully drapes himself across Louisa’s back, “ _I’m what now?_ ”

“ _Heeaavvyyy!_ ” Louisa draws the word out, wriggling to get him off of her.

He dramatically rests a hand against his forehead, stubbornly staying on, “ _Oh no! I’m crushing my poor sister! How will she live now?_ ”

Louisa bursts into laughter, twisting around so she can sit up and wrap him in a hug, “ _I guess you’ll just have to do everything for me now._ ”

Lane giggles at that, hugging her back and pressing a kiss to her cheek, “ _Anyway, come meet Gaige. We got Willow out of her room too, because he wants to test a game mod on us._ ”

Louisa nuzzles his cheek, nodding her head, where the necklace-crown Rosa gave her is barely hanging onto one of the curls in her hair. She adjusts it, as the two get up, reaching down to pat Rosa’s head, “ _See you in a little bit, hermana._ ”

Rosa just beams at her, jumping up to give them both hugs, before asking to help her mom with the laundry.

Louisa lets Lane hold onto her arm as they head over to Lane’s apartment, the blond boy leaning his head on her shoulder, “Have you given moving into our apartment instead any more thought?”

Louisa sighs softly and leans over to kiss his head, “I told you, hermano. I’m going to stay with the García’s. I’m not that far away.”

“I know you aren’t, but you’d be even closer if you lived with us, and you’d get to know the rest of the family a lot better.” Lane lets Louisa open the door for them, nudging her shoulder insistently, “It feels weird having you close, but not living with us.”

Louisa slumps a little at that, leaning her head on his, “The whole situation is weird, but I’m going to stay with the García’s, at least until everything gets settled with my father.”

Lane nods determinedly, leaning up to nuzzle her cheek, “How’s that going by the way?”

“Well, they can’t seem to find the stupid joder, so it’s probably going to be a little while before we can settle the thing in court.” Louisa makes a noise of discontent, when she looks in the living room and sees the Gaige from her class settled on the couch talking to Willow, “Maria is more worried, because he’s technically a fugitive, if he’s run off, and he most certainly knows it. Good thing is that he wasn’t there when the police escorted me to go get my things from the house.”

“I guess that is good.” Lane leans back from her, pulling her to the couch, “Gaige! Meet our hermana, Louisa! Louisa, this is Gaige!”

Gaige’s eyes widen immensely, his aura purely confused, “Um, hi?”

Louisa just bows to him, straightening up after a moment, “Pleasure to meet you. I’m Willow and Lane’s missing older sister. Living over at the García’s for now. Lane and Willow are very fond of you, so thank you for looking after them.”

Lane chuckles at that, squishing Louisa in a hug, “You’re still my favorite, cuervita.”

“Thanks a lot, hermano.” Willow reaches over to smack him, causing Louisa to chuckle, as she settles down in the couch next to the one Willow and Gaige are settled on.

“So what game are we playing? Lane said we’re testing a game mod.”

Gaige opens his mouth, a small noise coming out, before he closes it again, leaning back against the couch.

“Mario Kart, I think.” Willow raises an eyebrow at Gaige, before shrugging and smiling at Louisa, “We should go out and train sometime. I missed doing that with you.”

Louisa’s lips curl into a bit of a pout, bouncing up from her spot, to go over and cuddle Willow up, “Oh, that would be wonderful. I’ve missed you guys so much. We should go do laser tag sometime too.”

Lane scrunches his nose, heading over to settle into Louisa’s other side, “If we do that, then you guys have to come roller skating with me.”

Willow and Louisa laugh at that, Louisa settling her other arm around him, hugging them both to her, “I’m still no good at skating, but I guess we can.”

-

Louisa heads back over to the García’s a little bit later, blinking when Gaige catches her hand in the hallway. He’d been surprisingly quiet the whole time they were hanging out, only talking when Willow or Lane brought him into the conversation.

Louisa turns back to look at him, raising an eyebrow, as he closes the door, “What?”

He opens his mouth again, looking like he’s struggling to find what to say. He runs a hand through his hair, “You… You’re… Did you know?”

“Did I know what?” Louisa crosses her arms, scrunching her nose grumpily.

“Did you know that I’m Willow and Lane’s brother, and well, yours now too?” Gaige’s eyes narrow at her crossed arms.

“I sorta guessed. It would’ve been a hell of a lot of coincidence if you weren’t.” She shrugs her shoulders, relaxing her stance a little, “And I only found out after competitions. Things have been a mess since then too.”

He watches her for a little while, before his nose twitches, “You are nothing like how Lane and Willow describe you.”

“Yeah. I’ve been gone for three years. Shit changes.” Louisa grips her arms in irritation, “Look, I don’t care if you don’t like me, or whatever. Just don’t let Willow and Lane catch on, or they’ll be upset. Lane especially.”

“Louisa, that’s not- Look, I’m not against you or anything. I’ve been trying to be friends with you, if you don’t remember.”

“Yeah, well, whatever you said to your friends made the class hate me, so it’s kind of hard to believe you.” Louisa turns on her heel, starting down the hallway, “See you around.”

“Louisa-” Gaige watches her go but makes no move to follow her, tugging at his hair in frustration.


	7. Chapter 7

“Yeah, so that’s what’s been going on with me this week.” Louisa let out a heavy sigh, spinning her ring in a lazy circle, while hanging half out of it.

“Wow. You’ve got a lot going on, sis.” Mona reaches over from the branch she’s manifested to pat her head.

Rey is still trying to work out a move she saw one of their competitors do, that she really liked, giving her agreement to Mona’s statement with a hum.

“Yeah. It’d be nice if at some point in my life, I could have a bit of calm, where nothing is happening.” Louisa hooks her legs around her ring, hanging upside down.

“You’d probably benefit from therapy.” Mona drops down to tuck the branch under her armpits, letting her legs dangle, now level with Louisa’s head.

“Ugg, Señora García keeps telling me that too. Her friend, Jade, is a therapist, and she’s been trying to get me to go see her all week.”

“Oh! Our therapist’s name is Jade too!” Rey flips out of her ring, to land on one of the branches Mona manifested.

“Probably the same person then.” Louisa sighs, letting her arms dangle, “I just don’t know about the whole therapy thing. I’ve never been good at talking things out in the first place.”

“Therapy will definitely help then. If she is the same Jade, then she’s really good at getting people to talk about what’s bothering them.” Mona leans her chin on the branch, offering Louisa a smile, “At least think about it?”

Louisa looks back at her, then softens and nods, “Okay. I’ll think about it.”

Mona nods her head, squeaking when the movement causes her to slip and fall, the drop enchantment catching her and making her bounce harmlessly off the ground, before letting her set her feet down. She groans and looks up at the girls, “I’ll be back up in a minute!”

Rey and Louisa burst into giggles at that, fondly watching Mona make her way back up to them. Mona shakily balances on the tightrope, only to fall back off, when someone bangs on the balcony door.

“Oh come on!” 

Louisa nearly falls off herself, from laughing so hard, unable to get up to go to the door. Rey on the other hand, looks at the door worriedly, climbing up one of Mona’s vines, to get to the tightrope, “I’ll go get it this time.”

“A-are, hehe, you sure?” Louisa manages to get out through giggles, watching Rey head over to the ledge that leads back to the balcony.

“Yeah, I’m sure.” Rey calls back, offering Louisa a smile.

Rey gently unlocks the door, peeking her head out nervously. She tilts her head when she’s met with a very angry looking red headed boy, “H-hello?”

The boy stills completely, his eyes growing big, “Um, hello? Why are you in here?”

Rey twists her watch awkwardly, “I’m one of Louisa’s friends. Do you need something?”

He frowns at that, taking a step back from the door, “I wanted to talk to Louisa.”

“She’s busy right now. I can tell her that you wanted to talk to her though.”

“I- Well. I guess.” He folds his arms across his chest, tilting his head to look in the room, “She’s just been very rude to my friend Gaige, and I want her to apologize to him.”

“I’ll tell her you dropped by to say that.” Rey smiles at him, her aura nervous still. She ducks back into the room, intent on closing the door, when he steps forward.

“Wait.” He catches the door, ducking his head in, “Can I come in and talk to her? I really need to get the point across to her, because she’s hurting Gaige.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea. I really don’t want you yelling at her again. You and your friends don’t seem to get along with her very well.” Rey lightly pushes him back out in the hall, “If she sees you, then she’ll get upset.”

“She should be upset. She hurt my best friend’s feelings!” He scrunches his nose, trying to move forward again.

“No one should be upset, and I’m pretty sure Gaige upset her too. She’s been worrying that arguing with him has alienated her from the rest of your class.” Rey firmly keeps him at bay, choosing to step out into the hall this time, closing the door behind her, “Please leave. I’ll tell her that you stopped by to say that she upset Gaige.”

“Arguing with him isn’t what alienated her from the class! She hasn’t talked to any of us, and she’s always grumpily brushing off anything we say. She’s also kind of a jerk.”

Rey presses her face in her hands, “Please just leave.”

The door opens a little, Mona peeking her head into the hallway, and blinking at the two. She moves over to wrap Rey in a hug, “Hey. Let’s get back inside. You’ve been gone a little too long.”

“I still need to talk to Louisa.” Nash crosses his arms, frowning at the two girls.

Mona doesn’t even respond to him, just gently leading Rey back into the practice room, and shutting the door behind them, just before Nash reaches for it.

 

\---

 

Louisa marches into the Huang’s apartment, heading up the stairs, and looking into each of the kid’s rooms on a mission. 

Lucie looks up from where she’s working on her computer, raising an eyebrow at the murderous look on Louisa’s face, “Um, hey sis? Are you okay?”

“No. Where’s Gaige’s room? I need him to tell me where his redheaded friend is, so I can kick his ass.” Louisa grips the doorframe tightly enough to worry Lucie, the dark haired girl getting up to remove her hands from it.

“Are you talking about Nash?”

“I don’t know. I never learned the name of the soplapollas. All I know is that he made Rey cry, and I need to grind him into dust.” Louisa jumps back from Lucie, pacing in a small circle in the hallway.

“What exactly did he do to make your friend cry?” Lucie leans against her door frame, watching Louisa pace with her arms crossed.

“I don’t know! Rey wouldn’t tell me. All I got from her was that he’s angry at me about something and wants me to apologize to Gaige. Whatever happened, he’s not allowed to take his frustrations with me out on her, and I’m going to punch him in the face.” Louisa pulls a red ribbon from her aura, shaping it into a ball and rolling it in her hands angrily.

Lucie blinks at that, before shrugging her shoulders and starting for the stairs, “Well, his apartment is on the floor below Adalita’s old apartment, if you want to yell at him.”

Louisa’s ball vanishes and she suddenly stopping her pacing, “Abuela’s old apartment? She lived in this building?”

Lucie looks back at her, raising an eyebrow at that response, though her aura is nothing but gentle, “Yeah. Did Willow and Lane not tell you?”

“No, they don’t like to talk about Abuela at all.” Louisa clasps her hands together, heading over to the green eyed girl, 

“Huh. I was kinda hoping they’d at least talk to you about what happened.” Lucie sets her hand on the stair railing, “Do you want to go down there and look through the apartment? No one’s touched it since the week after she died.”

She nods, her aura clouding over as Lucie leads the way out of the apartment. Lucie sticks next to her the whole walk, offering her a bit of comfort.

Lucie simply opens the door to Adalita’s apartment, leading the way in, “Yeah, the last time we were here was to get Willow and Lane’s stuff, and clean anything perishable out of the apartment. We wanted to let them decide what to do with everything else, but Lane breaks into tears every time we mention it, and Willow won’t talk when we try asking her.”

Louisa sucks in a breath, tears pricking her eyes, as she looks over the living room, “Oh, it’s like nothing changed.”

Lucie looks back at her and lets out a soft sigh, “Yeah. Adalita was very particular about where her things were to go.”

Louisa chuckles at that, reaching up to wipe her eyes, “Of course she was. Our living room hasn’t changed since I was nine and accidentally broke the couch playing with Isis.”

“Who’s Isis by the way? Willow and Lane talk about her every now and then, but they never explained who she was, or how they knew her.” Lucie settles down on the couch, watching Louisa move to the coffee table and start fiddling with it.

“Isis is a family friend of sorts. She helped raise us.” Louisa finds the groove in the table and twists it, opening the compartment, and pulling out an intricate shelving type thing, where a beautiful collection of jewelry had been cleverly hidden. She sighs softly and reaches out to touch one of the pieces, while Lucie just stares in awe.

“Woah! What is that?”

Louisa looks back over at her with a fond chuckle, “Abuela’s jewelry set. It’s a really cool set up actually. Each item lays flat along the bottom of the hidden compartment, making it look as if it’s just a really thick table. You do know my abuela’s an engineer, right?”

“No! I thought she was just a jewelry maker!” Lucie squeaks in surprise, looking around the room warily, “What else did she have hidden in here?”

Louisa grins at that, reaching forward to take one specific bracelet, before twisting the shelving back into the table, “A lot. We’re used to living in small spaces. You should’ve seen me, Willow, and Lane’s room. It was absolutely beautiful.”

“Well, I know Lane and Willow’s beds are really cool, but past that, this is news to me.” Lucie runs a hand through her ponytail.

Louisa just stands and looks down the hall, “I wonder if they kept any of my things.”

She heads down the hall, Lucie getting up to follow after her. 

Louisa stills at the doorway to one of the rooms, the door closed and labelled Louisa. She has to physically stop herself from crying, a bittersweet smile falling on her lips, “Sh-she expected me to come back home.”

Lucie sets a hand on her shoulder, offering her a bit of comfort as Louisa opens the door. Louisa sucks in a breath, before letting it out, taking in her room. Her bed is set up how it was back home, already made up with all her pillows and blankets. Her desk is a lot neater than she used to keep it, but with all her pictures and tools laid out on it. Her notebooks are all settled into her bookshelf, and there are five new outfits hanging on the hook where Abuela always put them on her birthday, and new years.

Louisa actually starts crying at that, sinking down to the floor of her room and sobbing into her hands. They even decorated her room how she likes, her sets of weapons on one wall, along with her favorite garden painting and cat tapestry. 

She barely registers the arms wrapping around her, Lucie scooping her into her lap, as Louisa just weeps, letting all her emotions about leaving her family and coming back, only to find everything different finally break out of the barrier she carefully placed them behind. 

Lucie kisses the top of her head, gently rocking her, until Louisa comes back to herself.

The tan-skinned girl slowly stops crying, her sapphire blue eyes bloodshot, as she looks up at Lucie, “Sorry for crying on you.”

Lucie rolls her eyes and squishes her in a hug, “Don’t apologize for crying, Louisa. You’ve been through some rough shit. You kinda deserve a good cry after everything that’s been going on.”

She chuckles at that, reaching up to wipe her eyes, “Thanks. This whole week’s just been so crazy, and I-I just can’t believe my abuela’s gone, and she very clearly expected me back before she passed.”

“Yeah, it looks like she did. Is this all stuff you had in your room before you left? If so, you’ve got a bizarre taste in decorating, mèimei.” Lucie plays with Louisa’s hair fondly, looking around her room a bit more.

“I mean. I like it. To be fair though, I only had one wall, so everything is a lot more spaced out in here. That tapestry was hanging right above my bed, and the weapons were above the painting on the sliver of wall I had, so that it was harder for Lane to reach them, when he was too young to mess with them.” Louisa leans back against Lucie, closing her eyes and sighing softly, “I need to go through and wash everything now. Everything in the apartment still works, right?”

“Yeah. We can’t exactly shut it off. You planning to take your things to your room with you?” Lucie looks around the room, leaning an elbow on her knee.

“For now, I might just take the clothes. I wonder if your parents and the García’s would let me move in down here instead.” Louisa hums to herself, getting up from Lucie’s lap, to start collecting her bedding, “Either way, I want to sleep in my bed tonight.”

“I really don’t think it’s a good idea for you to live here alone. Especially with everything going on.” Lucie jumps up as well, moving to help her out.

“I mean, I’m not really alone. You all live upstairs, and I could get a pet. It’d be a lot nicer than any place the Underage Housing Office would put me too, and I don’t want Abuela’s things collecting dust like this. We all worked so hard on everything.” Louisa folds up her blankets, carrying them out to the living room and searching for the washer and dryer.

Lucie follows after her with a couple of her pillows, “Wait, were you planning on applying for underage housing? Why would you do that?”

“It’s a little more comfortable for me than living with the García’s, or you guys, no offence. Everything’s been such a mess, and I’ve been really out of place.” Louisa checks the dates on the detergents, smiling when she notices that Abuela still uses the same detergent as always. She loads the washer, and sets it, “Alright, while that goes, I need to talk to your parents, and then the García’s, then I need to get started cleaning. The only issue is that I won’t be able to get a food card, until I turn eighteen, so I may have to continue eating with the García’s.” 

Louisa heads out the door, Lucie trailing her in confusion, “Um. Are you still talking to me, or just out loud?”

“Half and half really, sorry. I’ve got a bad habit of going through my plans verbally.” Louisa smiles back at her, “Thank you, by the way. I don’t think anyone would’ve told me about the apartment, if you hadn’t.”

“I’m starting to think that might not have been a very good idea, but you’re welcome, I guess.” Lucie shakes her head, heading up the stairs after her, “I’m pretty sure the parents are going to try and talk you out of this.”

“So long as they let me live at home, I really don’t care. This is the only thing that even feels remotely normal right now.”


	8. Chapter 8

The Huang’s are extremely cautious about letting Louisa live in her abuela’s apartment, even after hearing her reasoning, which Maria promptly scoops her up in a hug for. Despite this, they come over to the García’s and sit down with Mía, Leo, and Louisa to talk about it, only agreeing to let her live there, if Louisa goes to therapy with Jade once a week, and comes up to one of their houses for breakfast and dinner every day. Louisa scrunches her nose at that, but accepts it nonetheless, understanding their worries.

She spends the rest of the night and weekend cleaning up and going through the apartment, Lane and Willow cautiously coming downstairs to check on her every now and then. They both end up falling asleep in Louisa’s bed with her the first night, something the Huang’s seem to be surprised at, when they come up for breakfast that morning.

Louisa sighs softly, as she finally finishes everything up on Sunday, feeling a lot better now that she’s dressed in her normal clothes again, and she's back home. The apartment still feels a little dull without any signatures aside from her own marking the place, but she guesses that she’ll just have to learn how to deal with that. 

She snorts when she hears a knock at the door, heading over to open it, and immediately frowning when she sees Gaige standing there.

Gaige’s eyes widen when he notices her outfit, eyeing the exposed bullet scar on her right arm worriedly, “Woah. Um, that’s a lot different. What’s with the crop top?”

“These are my normal clothes. What you’ve been seeing me in, were outfits my father made me wear. I’d consider burning them, if it weren’t more beneficial to recycle them.” Louisa leans on the doorway, crossing her arms and observing him, “Did you just come down here to chat, or what’s up?”

He sighs heavily and crosses his arms as well, “I’m here because I’m worried about you. You’re my age. You shouldn’t be living alone.”

“Like I’ve explained to your parents, and the García’s a million times already. I’m not technically living here alone. I’m literally one floor down from you guys, and this is my home. It’s the only place that feels right at the moment, even if abuela y mis hermanos don’t live here with me.” She presses her head into the wood of the doorway, letting out a dejected sigh, “Besides, what do you care? You don’t like me.”

“Okay, let’s get one thing straight. I like you just fine. You’re the one that’s been standoffish this whole time. I want to be friends with you. I want to get along with you, but I can’t do that if you won’t let me.” Gaige presses his hands together, bringing them to his nose, before pressing them down.

Louisa’s nose scrunches, “Really? If you want to be friends with me, then why does everyone in the class act like you told them I’m a horrible person, or something?”

“I don’t actually know. It might be because you’ve been arguing with me and Nash openly, and you’re usually glaring at everyone.” Gaige peeks his head inside, for a second, curiosity tinging his already concerned aura, “Either way, it’s really unhealthy for you to be living alone right now.”

Louisa raises an eyebrow at that, opening the door fully, “Come on inside. Do you want some tea?”

Gaige blinks at the invitation, watching Louisa head further into the house, “Um, sure? Did you get a food card or something?”

“Nope. I just do odd jobs, so that I can get notes. I’ve started talking to a gentleman at the shop I’d sneak out to, when I was still living with my father, and he’s agreed to be my mentor of sorts, so he’s been introducing me to some clients.” Louisa heads into the kitchen and gets out the teapot, “Please shut the door behind you.”

Gaige does exactly that, taking off his shoes and setting them on the rack at the door, before coming in, “So you already have a career in mind?”

“Yep. I’m an engineer, like Abuela. She taught me everything I know.” Louisa gets out two little jars of dried and crushed herbs and leaves, “I’ve got tea, then green tea. Which do you prefer?”

“Um, green. I thought Adalita was a jeweler.” Gaige comes into the kitchen, setting down in the chair Louisa pulled out for him.

“She did both. She’d been getting a little too tired in the middle of projects, the last time I saw her, so I get why she switched to just doing jewelry.” Louisa sighs softly, taking a filter bag and filling it with tea, before folding it and setting it in one cup, repeating the process with the other cup, “She’s still got some half finished pieces on her work desk in her room, that she never got to. I have no clue what I’m going to do with them.”

Gaige watches her go over to the stove, when the kettle goes off, leaning his elbows on the table, “You’re really serious about staying here, huh?”

Louisa snorts at that, coming over with the teapot, and pouring the water into both cups, “Of course. I’ve been trying to live independently almost since my father claimed me. Besides, this is my home.”

“I overheard Lucie saying something about you were planning on going into underage housing before this. Is living with us, or the García’s really that bad?”

Louisa settles down the teapot on the cozy in the middle of the table, taking a moment, before speaking again, “That’s kind of an unfair question. Imagine that you were taken away from you family for a second. You’ve been gone for three years, living with someone who you didn’t realize was abusive, because you don’t actually know how those things work. Suddenly you find your siblings again, but only your siblings. Your parents died, and your siblings are too upset about it to tell you how. Your siblings are now living with some family you don’t know, and you’ve never met them before, and your neighbors that you vaguely remember, because they moved about three years before you left, offer to house you, but they’ve got a bunch of younger kids you haven’t really met either. Everything you used to know has changed, specifically in a way that’s left you out, because you weren’t there to make a space. Would you want to live with them?”

Gaige stays quiet for a little while, sighing softly and running a hand through his hair, “I guess I wouldn’t.”

Louisa takes out both tea bags from the tea cups, setting them in a dish next to the teapot, “Now imagine that you found your house, it’s a little different, but not enough to be off putting. All of your things that you left are set up in your room like they’ve been waiting for you, and your family may not live there anymore, but it’s still your home. It’s the only familiar thing in this whirlwind you’ve been dropped in. You can still see your siblings, in fact that aren’t even that far from you. Wouldn’t you want to live at home?”

“That doesn’t change the fact that it’s unhealthy, Louisa.”

“It’s not really. Kids in Respublica were allowed to move out at sixteen, if they really wanted to, and were expected to move out by eighteen. It’s just a little different from what you’re used to is all.” Louisa pushes one teacup to him, pulling her own to her, “It’s not like your parents, or the García’s are letting me live here without supervision either. I’ve got to be upstairs to get dinner and breakfast, and lunch on the weekends, and Lane and Willow have been in and out of the apartment with me all weekend. Lane still gets a little sniffly, but we’re going to work on that. Lucie, Akash, and Marcus have all been down to see me a couple times too, and I’m sure Lane and Willow will drag me upstairs to hang out with you guys more often than not anyway.”

Gaige scrunches his nose at that response, taking a sip of his tea, “I guess it’s not really that bad, but still, Lane and Willow wouldn’t even come down here. How can you live here without getting upset?”

Louisa looks down at her tea, rubbing the side of the cup lightly, “Just because I’m not crying every time I walk in the apartment, doesn’t mean I’m not upset. It does feel really off, like someone sucked the soul out of the house, but it doesn’t feel as wrong as staying with the García’s does, or the thought of staying with you guys does, so it’s a lot easier to deal with.”

Gaige gives out a sigh, relaxing against the table. They sip their tea in silence for a minute, before he speaks up again, “So, are you planning to stay in this apartment permanently then?”

“Yeah, probably. I feel like this place needs a caretaker anyway, and I know where everything is and how all the furniture works. From how Lucie, Marcus, and Akash reacted to everything, I can tell that you guys weren’t over very often.” Louisa drums her fingers against her teacup, leaning back a little in her seat, “I finally got everything cleaned up today, although I haven’t actually sat down and gone through Abuela’s room yet. I’ve just cleaned her sheets and clothes. I-I don’t know what to do with her clothes. I don’t know if I actually want to recycle them, or what. It feels weird.”

“I can’t even begin to imagine how that’s got to feel.” Gaige runs a hand through his hair, “Thank you for doing it at least. We were just going to leave everything alone, until Willow or Lane decided what to do with everything.”

“Yeah. I caught that. As much as it frustrates me that they were left to deal with all this, I’m glad you guys left it alone. Hopefully it takes a bit of weight off their shoulders. They’ve lost so much, and I should have been here to help them deal with it.” Louisa’s aura dulls a little, the brunette gripping her teacup handle.

Gaige reaches over and sets a hand on hers, “Hey, that was out of your hands. You’re here now, and that’s what matters.”

Louisa looks back up at him, offering him a sad smile, before blinking away the tears starting in her eyes, “Thanks.”

He gives her a warm smile in return, squeezing her hand, before retracting his, “Hey, so Lucie told me you came storming up to the apartment, looking for Nash on Friday. What happened there?”

“Ugg, again, I don’t know the cabrón’s name, but the redheaded joder that you hang out with made Rey cry on Friday, and I was gonna beat him up, until Lucie brought up the apartment, and now I only feel like cussing him out to his face.” Louisa’s cheeks puff up, her nose scrunching grumpily.

Gaige sighs heavily at that, “He’s a little fiery when it comes to people that make his friends upset. I’ll talk to him, and see if I can get him to apologize to Rey.”

Louisa just nods in response, tapping her now empty cup, “If he’s got a problem with me, then he needs to come to me about it, not take it out on anyone associated with me.”

“I have a feeling he was trying to come to you about it. He wouldn’t knowingly make your friend upset, unless they said something about one of us. He can be a little blunt sometimes, though.” Gaige stretches out a little bit, “Hey, where do you want the cup?”

“I’ll take it. They’ve got a specific place in the cabinet.” Louisa catches his cup, getting up and heading to the sink to wash both their cups.

“I figured they would. Adalita was always very specific about where everything was supposed to go.”

 

\---

 

Walking into the classroom with Gaige may have been a bad idea. Their classmates auras are just ringing with surprise, all eyes on them, as Louisa hikes her bag up on her shoulders a little more, as if that’ll hide her.

Gaige doesn’t seem to notice this at all, nudging her shoulder teasingly, “Do you want to sit closer to the rest of the class today?”

She scrunches her nose at him, “Not really.”

“Come on, just a row closer. You don’t even have to sit next to anyone.”

She looks at him, which was a mistake in it of itself, Gaige’s aura incredibly pleasant and gentle. She drags a hand down her face and groans, heading up to the row in front of the one she usually sits in, and settling down behind Harrison.

Gaige positively beams at her, going over to take his usual seat next to Nash, who looks confused, but not unhappy.

 

“Hey, so did you and Gaige finally work out whatever little thing you two got into?” A redheaded Linyun girl sneaks over to Louisa after class, her amber eyes glittering with curiosity.

Louisa crosses her arms over her chest, fiddling with the strap of her bag with one hand, “There wasn’t really a thing in the first place.”

“Are you sure about that? Gaige is super calm, and you actually managed to piss him off. Especially when it comes to the practice room issue.” She clasps her hands together behind her, following her out of the classroom.

“That problem was because I can’t give up any practice times on Fridays. It’s not only my decision.” Louisa pinches the bridge of her nose, heading in the direction of the cafeteria, “Everything else is because he’s pushy and doesn’t know how to take no for an answer.”

“Well, it worked. Didn’t it?” Her lips quirk up in a smirk, causing Louisa to groan.

“I’m not going to dignify that with an answer.”

She laughs at that, patting Louisa’s shoulder fondly, “Well, I’m glad to see you two getting along. I’m Cerise by the way.”

“Nice to meet you. I’m Louisa.” 

 

The rest of the day, Louisa slowly has more and more of her classmates come up and introduce themselves, Louisa thanking whatever energy caused them to not come at her all at once. Gaige tries to get her to come to lunch with them again, Louisa declining nervously. That gets a grumpy response from Gaige’s best friend, Nash, who still doesn’t seem to like her much, but he did ask her to apologize to Rey on his behalf, so she doesn’t really care.

 

\---

 

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Louisa.” Jade settles into her chair, after greeting her at the door of her office, “Go ahead and sit down. Would you like to tell me a bit about yourself?”

Louisa awkwardly takes a seat on the couch across from her, already feeling extremely uncomfortable, “Um, not really? I figured the Huang’s and García’s would’ve already told you quite a bit about me.”

“They have, but I like to know what you’re comfortable telling me first.” Jade smiles gently, clasping her hands together, “If you’re not comfortable with that though, then we can start with a game. Would you like that?”

Louisa shrugs her shoulders, eyeing the pillows on both sides of the couch, before slowly pulling one over to her side.

Jade reaches for the box settled in the middle of the table. She takes out a set of cards, then shuffles them around, “This is my set of question cards. We can play in a couple of different ways. We can either both draw questions and answer them, or we can make it to where you just draw the questions. In this game, you can choose whether or not to answer the question. If you choose not to answer the question, then it goes face down on the green side of the table. If you choose to answer the question fully, then it goes face up on the blue side of the table. If you chose to only partially answer the question, then you can set it in the middle of the table, on the pink. Fully answered questions are worth one point, half answered questions are worth half a point, and unanswered questions are worth no points. How would you like to play?”

“Two player.” Louisa reaches out and pulls the other pillow to her other side, feeling a little more comfortable now.

Jade takes out a card, “Wonderful. I’ll start.”


	9. Chapter 9

“Hey, did you get the invite for the Aerial Manifestation Meet Up yet?” Gaige sneaks up to Louisa after classes one day, “I meant to ask you this morning, but I forgot.”

Louisa looks over at him, tilting her head to one side, “I don’t even know what that is, so no.”

“Oh, well, you’re in a duo, right? Is your partner your lead?” 

“Yeah.” 

“Then she probably got the invite. Either way, it’s kinda just a day where almost all the Aerial Manifestation competitors get together and trade new moves and show off routines. It’s lead by a couple of professional performers, and they give little classes on how to help with stamina and energy retention and building, and other things. You should come.” Gaige holds the straps of his backpack, a bright smile on his face.

Louisa thinks that over for a minute, tapping her fingers against her hip, “I’d have to talk it over with my partner, but it sounds like fun. Do they let us come masked up?”

“Mhmm. If you end up coming in costume, then you won’t be the only ones. It’s usually split half and half on costumes and not. It’d be nice to actually hang out with you to do aerial, though.” His lips turn up in a pout.

She sighs softly at that, running a hand through her hair, “I can’t, and I’m sorry. It’s not just my decision.”

“Yeah. I know, but it would just be nice is all. Can you talk to her about it?”

“It’s not going to change the answer. She’s coming to school with us when the new year starts though, so maybe she’ll get a bit more used to you guys. It’ll take a while either way. She likes to make completely sure something’s okay, before doing it.” Louisa settles down at the trolley stop today, Gaige’s aura turning curious for a second, before he continues talking.

“Okay. I guess I can work on winning her over, when she starts school.”

Louisa snorts at that, leaning up to rest her head on his shoulder for a second, before moving away again. Gaige positively beams at the show of affection, reaching over and scooping her up in a hug, causing Louisa to squeak, before bursting into laughter and hugging him back.

 

\---

 

“So, do you think we should go?” Louisa, Mona, and Rey are settled down on the balcony right now, having just gone through stretches.

Mona leans back on her elbows with a heavy sigh, looking over at Rey, “You’re team leader. What do you want to do?”

Rey clasps her hands together in her lap, looking at the ground worriedly, “I want to go. It’d be a lot of fun first and foremost, and we’d get to see more of how everyone else works and practices, and we’d get tips and lessons. There are more pros than cons, but I’m the only issue. It’d be a lot harder to hide that I’m a non-magic that way.”

Louisa tilts her head from side to side, “I mean, there is such a thing as magics that aren’t strong enough for manifestation magic, and you are good enough with our manifestations to make it look like you’re a physical magic with little capability for manifestation.”

“It’s a lot of risk to just go based off that though.” Mona adds in, pushing herself to sit upright, “We barely made it past admissions with that. If they have any reason to think Rey’s a non-magic, then they’ll drop her.”

Rey slumps back to lay on the floor, her aura swimming in disappointment and guilt. Louisa reaches out and takes her hand, rubbing the back of it gently, “I mean, both you and I manifest strongly enough, that if we stick close enough together the whole time, then we should be able to cover for her.”

“But if we’re still going with the cover that she’s a physical magic, then won’t that be a tell? Neither of us are physical magics.”

“I have a little physical magic, and I’ve got a wide enough emotional collection, that I can make my manifestations look like physical magic, if I’m paying attention.” 

Rey looks up at her, her eyes worried, “Won’t that drain you? That’s a lot of energy output.”

“I can handle it. I’ll just need to eat a big breakfast, and lunch when we’re let out for it. I’ve got a lot higher energy retention and stamina than most people our age.” Louisa squeezes her hand gently, her chest puffing up with a bit of pride, noticeable despite being completely flat today.

Mona chuckles at that reaction, leaning her head on her hand, “It could work. If anything goes wrong, then we can just leave early. Are you okay with trusting Louisa’s manifestations, Rey?”

Rey nods, bolting up and wrapping Louisa in a hug, “I love you so much.”

Louisa squeaks, barely having braced herself beforehand. It takes her a second, before she’s hugging Rey back tightly, “Oh, I love you too, hermanita.”

Rey giggles at that, nuzzling her shoulder, “You’re really loving that you’re older than us, huh?”

“Of course. It’s wonderful information to have.” Louisa kisses the side of her head, smiling when she notices Mona watching them with a gentle look, “Do we want to get started with practice now?”

 

\---

 

Louisa has to be careful about leaving the house on the day they’re supposed to go to the Aerial manifestation meet up. She had to do her makeup mask, enchant her hair, and put in the colored contact lenses, before heading out, and now she’s got a long skirt and hoodie covering her costume, so that she can leave the apartment building without anyone noticing.

She gets all the way down to where the staircase leads past Eliott’s workroom, before hearing said person call her name.

“Hey, Louisa. Could you come here for a moment? I wanna get your measurements for something.” 

Louisa risks a looks at the doorway, Eliott not looking up from where he’s stitching something at his table, “I’m sorry, Eliott, but I’ve really got to get going. I don’t want to be late.”

“It won’t take but a minute.” She feels Eliott’s aura edging with suspicion, hearing him get up, “Where are you headed anyway?”

Louisa tenses a little, instinctively pulling her hood further around her face, “The Aerial Manifestation Meetup.”

“Oh, but that doesn’t start for another hour? You won’t be late.” Eliott’s feet come into her line of vision, “Why are you hiding your face, mija?”

Louisa chews on her lip, “I- Well, um. You see. I had to get ready in costume already, and I don’t want anyone here knowing who I am.”

Eliott reaches out and tilts her head up gently, a soft smile on his face, when it comes into view, “Well, I promise I won’t tell the kids. Can I get your measurements real fast? I’m working on New Year’s outfits right now, and I’m almost certain the measurements Adalita gave me last year aren’t correct anymore.”

Louisa blinks nervously at that, nodding her head slowly, “O-okay.”

Eliott beams and heads back into his workshop, gesturing for her to follow him, “Come on in.”

The measurements don’t take very long at all, Eliott’s aura stewing in curiosity, even though he’s not asking any questions yet.

He jots down the measurements, before smiling back at her, “Alright, you’re good to go. I’ll probably find you sometime tomorrow though, to have you chose a style you like better. I’ve only got the old information Adalita gave me, for your outfits.”

Louisa continues standing there for a little bit, arms crossed over her chest nervously. She watches Eliott move to his table for a moment, before sucking in a breath, “I- I guess I’ll be going then.”

Eliott looks back at her, raising an eyebrow at that response, “Did you want to talk about something?”

Louisa fiddles with the bracelet on her wrist, not making for the door yet. After a moment she nods, looking up at Eliott, “H-How well did you know my abuelita?”

He sets down his booklet softly, settling down in his chair, and patting the one next to him, “Rather well, I like to think. She used to use the other set up over there. She was set to move into the García’s building when we first met her, but I think Max had convinced her to switch over to our building. He worked in the shop across the hall, and well, he died at the same time Adalita did.”

Louisa slowly comes over to the chair, settling into it, “Do you know how Abuela died?”

Eliott's aura colors with sadness as he nods, “Yes, I do. How much do you know about that, though?”

“Los hermanos didn’t tell me exactly what happened, but I can guess what happened had to deal with her keeper responsibilities.” Louisa clasps her hands together, her eyes watering a little, “Do you know about Isis?”

“Yeah. I know everything about the keeper and shadow thing. Max and Leo were adamant on someone not involved knowing, in case something happened. I haven’t seen Isis around as much lately, but I know she’s with Willow temporarily, until she needs to go out and find her new keeper.” Eliott moves a little, continuing with the stitching for the current project he’s on.

Louisa fiddles with the sleeves of her hoodie, “Well, um. I’m her new keeper. I’m more or less waiting until Willow wants to part with Isis. I’ll probably make her take another one of Abuela’s necklaces, because it may not be the same as holding onto Isis’s charm, but I know which ones Abuela enchanted to mimic that.”

Eliott’s hand stills for a second, before he goes back to the seam he’s working, “I probably should have expected that. Nash took over Max’s charm too, and I think he’s holding onto all the others right now.”

Louisa screws her eyes shut, “All the others? What- What happened?”

“I’m not too certain. All I got from Nash was that there was a group shadow attack, and then there was some sort of explosion, and Leo was the only keeper that made it out alive. Leo doesn’t remember any of it though. He doesn’t remember having Yi either.” Eliott sets down his needle, running a hand through his hair, and taking it out of the bun it was in, “I wouldn’t bring it up with Nash though. He’s still devastated. It hasn’t even been a year yet, and Max was his father.”

“I need to talk to him regardless. I’m not doing the hidden identities thing with that. It’s way too dangerous.” Louisa leans back a little in her seat, blinking in surprise, when she hears feet coming down the stairs.

“That’s probably the kids. You can sneak out through the store entrance, if you want to avoid them.” Eliott reaches over and presses a kiss to her cheek, “Have fun, mija.”

Louisa nods at that, reaching over and giving him a hug, before getting up, “Thank you, Eliott.”

He smiles at that, hugging her back before she darts through the workshop, and out of the storefront. 

 

“There you are. Where have you been?” Mona raises an eyebrow at her, when she finally gets to the place they decided on for breakfast, “Solar and I already finished breakfast and everything.”

“Sorry, I was talking to Eliott about my abuela. I ate a big breakfast with them too. Gaige was side eyeing me the whole time. He really wants to know who I am.” Louisa sighs heavily, messing with the loose hair puffed up under the headband she made out of her hair.

Rey wraps her up in a hug, “So, do you want more food, or are you okay?”

“I’m good. I put plenty of snacks in my bag too. Just in case.” Louisa squeezes Rey tightly, pressing a kiss to both her cheeks, “Are you guys ready to go?”

Mona chuckles at the two, coming over and giving Louisa a side hug, before gesturing for Rey to lead, “You’re the one with the address.”

Rey grins at that, taking both of their hands, as they start walking, “Let’s go then!”


	10. Chapter 10

The meetup hall is huge. Louisa can tell that they fleshed it out specifically for this event, plenty of tight wires crisscrossing on the ceiling, and each wall has a connected balcony section. The event coordinators greet them when they get there, giving them their leader assignment and checking them in.

The girls make their way over to their number, Louisa stiffening a little when she sees Gaige and his group there. Mona’s aura fills with a little apprehension as well, while Rey remains oblivious, continuing to read the itinerary to the other two cheerfully.

“Oh, hey! We got put with the celestials!” Cerise practically crawls up Oeillet’s shoulders, the shorter girl not even phased by this.

Rey looks up from her paper, blinking in surprise, before looking around, then whispering to Mona, “Um, who are the Celestials? I don’t remember a group with that name.”

Mona leans up to whisper back, “I think she’s talking about us.”

Louisa just squeezes Rey’s hand nervously, so thankful she put away her clothing covers, before meeting up with the girls.

“Oh, huh. That’d actually be a really good team name.” Rey nods her head in thought, threading her fingers with Louisa’s.

Louisa looks up at her, a fond giggle escaping her lips, as she moves to lean her head on Rey’s shoulder, “I wonder how you didn’t come up with that.”

Rey just chuckles, the three watching a couple more people join them; three more groups, ranging from three to five people.

“Hey, so we couldn’t really find you guys after competitions, and we’d really like to get to know you, and be friends, especially since you’re new to the aerial scene.” Gaige comes over to them and offers them a bright smile, Nash trailing behind him.

Mona raises an eyebrow at that, before her eyes narrow, “Code, correct?”

Gaige nods, dropping into a light bow, “Yep. We don’t really mask up for these kinds of events, since no one’s judging here.”

Louisa stays quiet, watching from where she’s leaning on Rey’s shoulder. Mona just looks him over with disinterest, before looking over at Rey and Louisa, both of whom shrug at her look.

“Well, we appreciate your offer of friendship, but we’re going to have to decline. Sorry.” Mona bows back to him, Rey snorting at the formality.

Gaige stills in his spot, before frowning, “I’m sorry, what?”

“I’m declining your friendship.” Mona states bluntly, nothing put patience in her aura, “I see no reason to get to know you, and be friends with you. We can be acquaintances though.”

Nash tenses from next to Gaige, his eyes narrowing at them.

“I don’t understand. Why don’t you want to be friends with us?” Louisa watches Gaige’s aura sink at that, the brunette boy clasping his hands together.

“Do I have to have a reason?” Mona raises an eyebrow at him, unfazed by him getting visibly upset.

“I mean, I would like one.”

“I just don’t have any interest in making friends with you.” Mona simply shrugs, turning to where their leaders for the day, a group of three older Aerial Manifestations professionals, are coming over to them.

Gaige isn’t sure of how to handle that, heading back over to his group, all of which are glaring at the girls now. Rey’s lip quivers at that, moving to lean her head on Mona’s, “Maybe that was a little too harsh, Lunar.”

“It got him to leave us alone.”

Louisa reaches up and rubs the back of her neck, a soft sigh escaping her lips, “I mean, you’re not in the wrong. It wasn’t even really that harsh.”

“Alright everyone! Welcome to the Aerial Manifestation Meetup. We’re going to be your leaders for today. I’m Ace, this is King, and that’s Joker. We’re a part of The Deck, and we’re mostly going to be going over group techniques you may not have seen before, and how to mix and match your manifestations, so that your performance looks a lot more fluid when more than one person is manifesting.” Ace sets his hands behind his back, causing his teammates to very obviously mock his stance.

“We’re going to start with a really easy exercise. I want one person from each group to step forward.” King steps forward herself, watching the teams talk amongst themselves for a second, only Rey and Gaige stepping forward immediately, without any discussion. King nods her head, observing each of them, “Now, out of curiosity. How many of you are your team’s leaders?”

All of them raise their hands, Louisa nodding her head in the background.

King grins at that, “Wonderful. Now. I want you to just stand there and look pretty. You aren’t allowed to assist in any way for this exercise. I want each group to send me two people. Groups of three, that means everyone.”

Mona and Louisa share a snort, both stepping over to Rey, who’s looking a little uncomfortable already.

“Alright. The next part is simple. I want you to send your team leader up to the balcony above us, by combining your manifestations. Ace, Joker, wanna give them an example.” King looks back at her teammates, the boys grinning from ear to ear, as they both toss out two items, one shaping into a pole that goes straight up to the balcony, the other sprouting vines that grow under King and lift her up to the balcony. King doesn’t move an inch.

Joker smiles back at the group, “Remember, team leaders, you can’t move a finger to help.”

Louisa smirks at that, draping herself over Rey’s shoulder, “That’s right, Solar. No moving whatsoever.”

“I don’t think he means I can’t hug you back, you dork.” Rey rolls her eyes, moving to wrap her arms around Louisa.

Louisa laughs and steps back to look at Mona, “Ready, lunita?”

“Yeah. Wait, these floors have drop enchantments, right?” Mona looks back at Ace and Joker, Louisa’s aura also flashing with worry for a second.

“Of course. We wouldn’t be using this building if they didn’t.” Ace smiles gently at the group, both girls relaxing.

Rey just raises an eyebrow at them, “What, you don’t think you can do it without dropping me?”

“Nope, just being cautious, sol.” Louisa sticks her tongue out at her, earning a bright smile in return.

The other groups around them have already started, actually struggling with the task a little. Joker keeps coming around and pointing things out, giving pointers, or making people restart.

Mona just pulls some seeds from her pocket, while Louisa manifests a cute little swing under Rey in a soft orange pink, tinted with blue. Mona throws out an acorn, the acorn immediately growing into a full tree. It slows for a second, so that Louisa’s manifestation can tie itself to one of the branches, before continuing to extend to the balcony and drop Rey off there. The tree shrinks back into an acorn after Louisa’s manifestation disappears, dropping back into Mona’s hand.

The other teams have to stop and stare at them for a second, before going back to the task with a ferver. 

King looks at Rey in surprise, before positively beaming, “Oh, wow. That was a record time for your age group. Good job.”

Rey just beams at her, before leaning over to give Louisa and Mona a thumbs up, “Good job, guys!”

Louisa and Mona give her two thumbs up in return. 

Ace heads over to Louisa and Mona, “Good job. You two got it on your first try even. Have you done this exercise before?”

“Not this exact one, but we like to play around with our manifestations from time to time.” Louisa shrugs in response, watching as Oeillet and Cerise finally get Gaige up to the balcony without dropping him. 

The team of five’s leader falls off for the second time, hitting the drop enchantment with a groan.

“That’s a very good training idea. Anyway, for the next part of this exercise. I want one of you to send the other up to the balcony after your leader.” Ace instructs, before heading over to Oeillet and Cerise.

Louisa and Mona share a look, Louisa chewing her lip and keeping her voice low, “Me or you? I’m willing to bet whoever’s left behind will have to bring the other up with Solar.”

“Which way do you think would look more distinctly physical magic?” 

“You. Let me send you up with Rey. Then sending me up should be a ribbon in her colors, similar to what I did, but I’ll tie it at the top, and you’ll have to try and scoop me up with it and whatever you decide.”

“We’ll go with vines this time, and will your magic reach that far?”

Louisa looks up at that balcony, then nods, “I can see it, so yeah. I told you, I’ve got a lot stronger magic than most our age. So do you, now that I think about it, and you’re like a year and a half younger than me.”

Mona snorts at that, taking a step away from her, “Alright, send me up.”

Louisa nods, manifesting a royal blue platform underneath her, that sends her right up and deposits her on the balcony.

Louisa was right, Ace informing her that it’s her turn to be brought up there. King gives the girls the same instructions, Mona and Rey stepping to the edge, as Mona tosses her vine seeds, letting them manifest and hang off of the tight wire above them.

Mona nudges Rey’s shoulder, Rey looking down at Louisa with a smirk, “How do you feel about a game of go fish?”

“So long as you don’t knock me into the balcony!” Louisa calls back, earning a laugh from Rey, as the girl looks at the vines. Louisa manifests a ribbon that ties itself to the vines, all while beaming up at them.

Mona’s vines swoop down and scoop Louisa up, the ribbon knocking her into a sitting position, bringing her up to the balcony and depositing her there, before disappearing. 

“That was fun.” Louisa leans her arms on the girls shoulders, King coming over to them.

“You girls don’t even need to be in with this group. What did you come to the meetup to work on?” 

Rey looks over at her, reaching up to rub the back of her neck, “We didn’t really come to work on anything specific. We just wanted to learn some new moves and setups we may not have seen before, and see what everyone else does.”

“Huh, well that’s more for the second half of the day. Might as well continue sticking with us then.” King sets a hand on her chin in thought, “The next thing we’re doing is letting you show us some of your routines, then showing you ours, and going through and pointing out better ways you can use teamwork. I’m going to have you guys go last, if that’s okay?”

“Of course.” 

King nods and heads over to where the last group to get their leader up finally has.

Mona comes over and leans her head on Rey’s arm, “Hey, you’re getting better at talking to new people without needing me.”

Rey leans over and encircles her in a hug, “Mmhmm. Still kinda scary though.”

“Hey, we never decided what routine we were showing off anyway. It’s between Forget and Time Lapse, right?” Louisa watches Gaige’s team send up their next member, Ace having split them up a little bit ago, so it wouldn’t take them forever to get all six team members up.

“Let’s do Forget. I’m still confused on Time Lapse, and I’d like more time to work on it.” Mona looks over at her from Rey’s chest, before raising an eyebrow at the Solar themed girl, “Are you trying to purr?”

“Maybe.”

 

The girls jump down from finishing their set, touching down in front of the group.

“Wow. Good job you three.” Ace gets up from where he was settled down, his teammates getting up with him, “It’s not something I’d recommend taking to competitions though, because it does sound a little braggy.”

“I do really like how you synced each of your signature manifestations, and I’m extremely interested in how in the world Blood Moon makes solid manifestations that look like liquid, especially the dripping blood moon signature. Solar Eclipse, the way you use the manifestations is absolutely amazing, and gives the performance an edge. Lunar Eclipse, your set up work is perfect, and you’re very good at giving the set up the right kind of aura. 

On the flip side though, Blood Moon, your movements are definitely less rehearsed, which is how mistakes, like that trip that you covered happen. Lunar Eclipse, you need to trust your manifestations a little less. Instead of correcting your own movements, you let your manifestations do that for you, and it shows, especially when you’re working on Solar and Blood’s manifestations. I have absolutely nothing to correct you on, Solar Eclipse, and that never happens, so really good job. All in all, you are extremely good for your age, and your teamwork is almost flawless.” King clasps her hands together, smiling proudly at them.

Joker nods his agreement, setting a hand on his hip, “I’m really interested in how you do your signature, Blood Moon. You’re an emotional magic, right?”

Louisa nods, holding out her hands and creating a miniature manifestation of a red moon, dripping with blood, “It’s pretty simple actually. The blood is specifically anguish mixed with anger, guilt, loss, and familial love. I see emotions in color, if you haven’t figured that out yet, and then I just imagine it solidly under my feet, if I want to move with it.”

Ace reaches up to cover his mouth, while King’s eyes bug out, and Joker just nods, reaching out to take the manifestation, “How’d you figure that out?”

“Was thinking about something specific one day, and found the emotions I was with at the time are a really good color for blood, which is kind of fitting, and I’ve been building on that since.” Louisa scrunches her nose at the other groups’ shocked auras, Cerise peeping up from the back.

“Yo, are you okay, Blood Moon? Those are some heavy emotions.”

“And you perform with them.” Oeillet adds in, looking her over worriedly, “That can’t be healthy.”

“It’s fine really. It kinda helps me get over that specific event. And I’m using them, more than I’m feeling them.” 

Joker hands her back her manifestation, nodding proudly, “Yeah, Queen told me emotional magics can do that because they’ve felt it before, something about it being in their arsenal.”

“Mmhmm. I only feel, like, a fraction of what I originally felt when I turn to use it again.” Louisa dissipates her manifestation.

King just runs a hand down her face, before clapping her hands together, “Alright, onto the next exercise folks.”

 

\---

 

“So how was the Aerial Manifestation Meetup?” Eliott settles down next to Louisa in the living room after dinner.

Louisa looks around for Gaige, making sure he isn’t out here, before positively beaming at Eliott, “It was awesome! We were with a bunch of groups, and the group leading us actually told us we probably shouldn’t be with them, because our teamwork and manifestation skills are really, really good. Above our age range. One of them was super interested in my competition signature, so I got to explain to them how I did that. I also did a little lesson on making manifestations look like dripping liquids, and how to walk on them, so that was awesome.”

Eliott chuckles at that, patting her head gently, “I bet. That’s no easy task.”

“Well, I think it’s easy, but I’ve been working on it forever.” Louisa leans her head against the couch, covering up a yawn, “Ugg, I’m so tired now though.”

“Feel free to sleep up here if you want. We certainly don’t mind.”

“Thanks Eliott, but I think I’m just gonna go up and say goodnight to los hermanos, then head to bed. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Louisa gives him a quick hug, before getting up.

“See you tomorrow, mija. Sleep well.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is among my favorite chapters I've written for this.


End file.
